Now, the CPC at 105 years old, what do you think are the most impressive aspects o- o- of CPC staying relevant today?

Um, I, I mean, I think the most striking characteristic of CPC rule is the way in which essentially it has, you know, through a whole succession of, uh, five-year plans and through a whole succession of objectives, progressively sought to improve the quality of the livelihoods of all Chinese people.

What's also extremely impressive is the way in which it's been able to adapt, you know, to events that have occurred along the way, uh, to adapt to e- to external circumstances, to adapt to internal circumstances.

You know, the first thing that it did was it established a socialist institutional system, and it implemented the policy of land to the tiller, and that, that land reform, you know, basically transferred, what, 900 million mu of farmland to 300 million farmers.

And I think, you know, the way these measures evolved is really extremely interesting because, I mean, for example, in 1978, China established a poverty line, you know, for essentially the first time, an income line, but it was also related to food expenditure.

But then with reform and opening up, it decided to let some people get rich first.

You know, so Deng Xiaoping said, "You know, some people should get rich first and then afterwards these people and these places should actually help everyone else get rich." So, you know, in, in the first eight years of that reform period, you know, the number of people under the poverty line, under China's own poverty line, fell by, uh, 100 million, right, from 250 million to about 150 million, largely as a result of institutional reform.

Now, Michael, when you think about innovation, and when you think about the R&D input, i- into Chinese industries, Chinese industrial policies, the emphasis on self-reliance technologically, and all, all the products that we have, right? The DJI drones, the BYD that's running on, uh, on the streets of the world, and, and even on some consumer products, such as Labubu, how did the CPC foster this, uh, very innovative ecosystem?

How is the ongoing conflict in the Middle East affecting the hunger in Myanmar? Well, obviously making that worse, but how worse?

Well, yeah, we're yet to see exactly how bad it will become.

Certainly prices are on the increase.

There has been fuel rationing introduced because the authorities were very concerned at the beginning of the Middle East crisis that there was a risk the country could run out.

It means that people have been unable to access all the fuel they need, particularly the farmers.

So there's been a reduction in the mechanization.

of the farming this year.

And can you describe what acutely hunger actually means? Because for, I guess, most of our listeners, they might not be able to differentiate, you know, just being hungry and acutely hungry.

So Michael, under those criteria, where does most of the world stand? How many people perhaps fall below that line of the criteria that you've just explained for food security?

So it's estimated at the moment that there are now over 300 million people who are acutely food insecure.

This is almost double the number from 2019.

And unfortunately, a lot of that food insecurity has spiked because of conflicts around the world.

The current conflict in the Middle East If it continues, it's estimated that there could be an increase of another 45 million people if the fuel price remains above $100 per barrel for any extended period of time.

So it's a tragedy.

We had, at the beginning of the millennium, aspired to zero hunger.

Yeah.