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We're proud to support the craft of journalism. UBS brings you the latest news from around the world with the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Be part of an international network that brings together leading insights, research and technology across 24 time zones and 12 key financial hubs. With you at the centre of it all, UBS advice is our craft. You're listening to the Globalist, first broadcast on 24 July 2025 on Monocle Radio. The Globalist in association with U. Hello, this is the Globalist broadcasting to you live from Midori House in London. I'm Georgina Godwin. Taiwan has welcomed an EU delegation and today EU leaders met Xi Jinping in Beijing. We'll ask how Brussels is dealing with walking the diplomatic tightrope. Then we'll cross to Kyiv where fresh protests have rocked the capital even as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators sit down for talks in Istanbul. We'll go through the papers and hear a suggestion on how the mayor of San Jose should be using AI. We'll dip into the latest edition of the Entrepreneurs focusing on Mexico and take a look at the potential US South Korea trade deal.
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Plus, many people don't know his name, but many people in Japan would know what he has created, be it commercials, games or other educational program content.
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That's Sato Masahiko. And we'll explore the Yokohama exhibition of Japan's mysterious creator. And finally, a roundup of news from the small screen from Stephen Colbert to a German streamer summit. That's all ahead here on the Globalist live from London. First, a look at what else is happening in the news. The World Health Organization warns Gaza is facing man made famine as aid remains blocked at the border. Thailand and Cambodia have exchanged fire along a disputed border, with each side blaming the other. And the Wall Street Journal reports that Donald Trump's name appears in Justice Department records tied to the EPSO case, deepening political pressure on the US President. Stay tuned to Monocle Radio throughout the day for more on those stories. Now, today, leaders from China and the EU met in Beijing to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties. The mood, though, is far from celebratory. Trade rows, sanctions and geopolitical tensions are all in play. And just yesterday, Taiwan's President Lai Ching Te hosted a visiting delegation from the European Parliament's democracy watchdog. So how is Brussels managing the tightrope, keeping China talking while edging closer to Taipei, especially with EU US trade relations on ice? Well, I'm joined now by Gurana Gurgic, who is Monocle security correspondent. She's talking to us from Zurich and William Yang, senior Northeast Asia analyst for the International Crisis Group in Taipei. Welcome to you both. Gurana, what's the point of today's summit? Is it a genuine reset or are both sides just trying to stop things unraveling further?
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Well, I think that we have to understand coming into this summit there weren't a lot of expectations that there are going to be some major breakthroughs or that this is going to be some sort of landmark meeting. It comes off the heels of couple of other bilateral meetings that were held at the high level actually over the course of this year. Different types of strategic dialogues on particular sort of functional and topical areas. So this was pitched initially as a kind of marking of a milestone, which is 50 years of diplomatic ties between the European Union and China, over the course of which the trade between the two parties has increased by over 300 times and now accounts for around 30% of all of global commerce. So just to put this into perspective of how significant these ties are. But then of course we can brush aside that over the course of the past decade, especially relations between the EU and China have been growing on some matters more adversarial, especially when it comes to trade and all things related to security and geopolitics. So EU sees China as a kind of three in one partner, but also a competitor and a systemic rival.
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And William, how is Beijing spinning it? Is China treating this as a diplomatic win or simply hedging its bets with you Europe while ties with Washington slide?
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Yeah, so the Chinese is definitely sounding an alarm just ahead. And at the beginning of this summit, we know that this morning Chinese President Xi Jinping already met with the two European Union leaders and what he wants sent a message is very clear that he wanted the European Union to make the right strategic calculation. And what that means is that the Chinese while have been trying to lure and also kind of like improve relations with the European Union since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January. They soon realized that some fundamental differences and clashes between the two sides are actually too difficult to resolve at the moment. And they are also continue to be concerned about the EU working or aligning with the United States in its long term competition with Beijing. And so coming into this summit, the Chinese side is very clear that they have very little expectation that any concrete deliverables are going to be achieved through the summit. They view this more as an occasion for them to exchange ideas and also opinions on some of these fundamental differences in the bilateral trade relationship. And also the European Union's ongoing concern about China's partnership with Russia, which the Chinese has continued to highlight that it is a very important and core interest for them to continue to maintain the relationship with Russia. And repeatedly Chinese interlocutors have told me that they hope that the European Union would understand that and also see the fact that China is not really sending actual weapons to enable Russia's war against Ukraine. But obviously from the European perspective, that is a very different interpretation and also view of China's relationship with Russia.
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So Guarana, we know that there was also a meeting between Taiwan, that's President Lai, and an EU delegation. Was the timing of that visit a quiet message to Beijing? And how provocative might it look from the Chinese side?
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Well, what we can see is that there are different forces within the European Union for now quite, quite some time in terms of where different member states stand or even for that matter, where different institutions of EU stand when it comes to EU's sort of policy towards Taiwan. I mean, EU in all of its formal statements still practices one China policy. This is not something that has been tested in this sense, but there are growing ties between different sort of organizations that might be advocating for closer relations to Taiwan and basically being more hawkish towards China. So again, we saw this just over the past couple of years, for instance, particular member states actually standing up to China. Lithuania is an example that suffered actually quite a lot of economic damage because it made it clear that it's supportive of Taiwan and it sort of changed its rhetoric, kind of pivoted towards the Indo Pacific, if you wish, in that sense. But again, I would say that this should be taken into a kind of broader context of the strategic competition lens that has been dominating relations among major powers in the world. And of course, Taiwan is just one, one part of that puzzle. I mean, there are a couple of other things that are on the docket list, if you want, when it comes to Chinese sort of territorial aspirations and expansionism and assertiveness around its sort of neighborhoods and near abroad. And that would include then also South China Sea, East China Sea, and of course, then, as we've just heard, the relationship that it has with Russia, the role that it does play actually in supporting Russia's war machine, either through absorbing the excess of oil and gas exports, or actually by being that decisive enabler in providing microelectronics and various other things that are crucial in the production of weaponry.
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William, would you say that this is a deeper EU Taiwan engagement, or is it mostly optics? And are we now seeing practical cooperation between the two, especially on things like security and tech, we know that President Lai raise the alarm about so called external infiltration. What's the scale of that threat and are they working together to counter it?
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Yeah, I think the interaction between Taiwan and the EU is still primarily focusing between the European Parliament and the Taiwanese government because that is an avenue where it has a little bit more autonomy and independence from the official EU bureaucratic system when it comes to the ability and room to engage with Taiwan. So I wouldn't say that we are witnessing a major breakthrough in terms of the level of engagement between the both sides. But I think very importantly, the European Union is not given up on opportunities to identify specific areas to increase engagement or at least dialogue with Taiwan. We have seen in the trade sector there are ongoing discussions and the Taiwanese side has repeatedly expressed the interest of potentially signing some sort of trade agreement. It's not an fda, but at the same time, you know, we also are seeing potential opportunities and also interest between Taiwan and the European Union to focus on disaster relief and disaster prevention related cooperations. And that could potentially lead to a broader civil society resilience type of cooperation because the European Union does see a lot of potential in both sides benefiting from such a collaboration in the future.
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William, thank you very much. That's William Yang there. Thanks also to Gurana Gurgik, our security correspondent in Zurich. This is the globalist. It is 12 minutes past 9 in Kyiv. 7:12 here in London. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is facing growing unrest after signing a law that weakens the country's anti corruption bodies. Civil society groups say it rolls back hard won reforms and threatens Ukraine's EU bid. Protests have broken out across Kyiv and other cities. Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian officials have met in Turkey for the first talks in nearly two months with prisoner exchanges and abducted children on the agenda. Well, I'm joined now from the Ukrainian capital by Latika Burke, writer at large for the Australian publication the Nightly and expert associate at the Australian National University's National Security College. Latika, many thanks for dialing in from Kyiv. What do we know about these talks in Istanbul? Is there any sign of movement towards a ceasefire or are both sides still stuck?
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Good morning, Georgina. It's lovely to be joining you from a very sunny, beautiful and warm Kyiv. Look, there is not a lot of expectation surrounding these peace talks in terms of actually landing a durable ceasefire. And I think one of the best ways to note that is simply the amount of air raid alerts you receive when you're here in Ukraine, there is no stop to the Russian attacks. And if there were, that would be, of course, a sign that Vladimir Putin is serious and genuine about reaching a ceasefire. At the moment, it seems like these talks have only really reached breakthroughs in terms of prisoner swaps and we've seen that previously. So another one could be on the way from this. But there is not a great expectation other than demonstrating once more to us President Donald Trump, Ukraine is ready for a ceasefire. It's coming to the table. It is offering serious and concrete proposals and that it is Russia that continues to refuse and as Melania Trump so aptly put it, bombs nursing homes.
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Why are people protesting in Ukraine? What exactly has sparked this anger? Now just unpick the censorship for us.
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This is a huge deal and it's an incredible week to be in Kiev on Tuesday night, Volodymyr Zelensky rushed through the parliament where he has a majority, a law to neutralize the independence and places under political control. Ukraine's two independence bodies. Now these were, sorry, anti corruption bodies. These were set up after the Maidan revolution. So they are hard fought for freedoms and they are genuine steps on the way to Ukraine's pathway to becoming part of the European Union. All that was abruptly put on hold when Zelensky did what he did on Tuesday night. It caused an absolute shockwave in Ukraine and resulted in the first demonstrations during wartime against President Zelensky in Kiev. Now, last night those protests happened again. They happened in Lviv, Dnipro and Odessa and once more in Kyiv. And I was out there last night with those protesters and it was a very dignified display of protest. There was no such, there's no sense of any sort of violence or any sort of disruption like that. In fact, what was really noticeable, Georgina, was that these protests don't really have a ringleader. There's no stage, there was no central figure making know tub thumping speeches or anything like that. It was simply thousands of students, mostly in their 19 or 20 year old, early 20s, singing Ukrainian hymns, chanting veto the law, holding up signs saying we're not fighting for corruption. This is not what our veterans are doing. And indeed there were some veterans there at the protest, very quiet and they kept their faces covered, they didn't want to be seen. One veteran was sitting in a wheelchair, both his legs missing, holding a sign saying, we didn't fight for your impunity, we didn't fight for corruption. So quite powerful messages and it really does expose something that is simmering in Ukraine and is not so obvious to the rest of the world, and that is that President Zelensky is not unpopular as such, but he is certainly not as popular domestically as he is abroad. And there are serious concerns about his power grabbing. And this really underscored all those fears that people have been holding for some time. So has it worked? Well, incredibly, Georgina, it looks like Volodymyr Zelenskyy may already be backtracking. He put out in his nightly address last night a statement saying that he had heard he is not deaf to what people are saying on the streets and to each other on social media, and that he will propose a rewrite of this law to the parliament, which is now in recess for a couple of weeks. We'll see what that says. As always, devil will be in the detail. And so far, the protesters, for as far as there are leaders and there's a few veterans making comments on this, have said that they want to see more detail and they're not satisfied so far with what Zelenskyy has said. But it is certainly fodder for Maga and those people who believe that the United States should stop funding Ukraine. And it is certainly a potential gift for Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, who is always promoting the narrative to any favourable ear that Ukraine is a corrupt society and can't be trusted and shouldn't be sent Western money and weapons to fight their war. So these are some of the views and this is some of the horror that that is unfolding in Kyiv this week.
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But what was Zelensky's justification of. Of wanting to change these laws? Why did he think it was necessary?
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That's not really clear. I mean, he has not really communicated with the people. It is quite ironic for someone who has barnstor the world stage and is one of the most powerful communicators globally and particularly in the Western media. He is seen as very distant from his people in Ukraine. And as one Ukrainian put it, he is seen as standing for Ukraine, but not for Ukrainians. And so his communication with the people domestically is at stark odds with actually how Zelensky communicates, say with us abroad. And this is also part of the problem. I spoke to one MP yesterday and she told me that they had. They saw this bill 15 minutes before it was put into the parliament. There was no debate. I mean, this is extraordinary stuff and there is no way it can be tolerated. And this is also not just causing dismay and shock and horror and protests in Kyiv. The same is happening in the international community. European leaders are shocked by this. The Czechia foreign minister is a great example I've been speaking to him, Jan Lepowsky, and he put out a statement late yesterday saying that he reminded his Ukrainian counterpart that the west support and Czechia's support and Czechia has been instrumental in drawing together coalitions to get munitions for Ukraine. He said, this is not a blank check. This will stall your path to EU accession if you continue down this road. So it has come as a big shock to not just Ukrainians, but to some of Ukraine's strongest supporters in Europe too. And that more than anything should be causing a lot of questions and, and head scratching here in Ukraine.
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And Latika, just, just briefly on the ground in Kyiv where you are, is there any sense that this moment echoes the mood of Maidan?
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Yeah, I spoke to a lot of students last night and Maidan was the one that, that kept coming up when I asked them why they were protesting. Maidan being the 2014 Revolution of Dignity that ousted the former president Victor Yankovic, who now lives in, in Russia in exile. And they did, they were continuing the legacy of Maidan. One young boy, Andre, who I talked to Andre, he was, he's 19, he's lived in Slovenia as soon as the full scale invasion started because of course he was a child then. And he told me, I came back to this country. Now he's 19, he's back as an adult. He said to me, I want to live in this country. It's my homeland and I want it to be as good as possible. And then, then when I asked him, you know, why so many young people here demonstrating, and it was overwhelmingly 18, 19 year olds, 22 year olds, he said, this is actually a Ukrainian thing. It's in our national code that these big protest movements start with students. So it is also something that will certainly be in the back of Zelenskyy and his advisors minds when they see students taking to the streets like this. The other sheer thing to note here is, is the incredible bravery, Georgina, of these young people turning out to protest. Kyiv has been under regular assault from drone and missile. Just as I got home after midnight to file my report, the air alert, air alert went off on my phone. Now it's such that people just kind of shrug and say, I'll wait and see if I can start hearing drones and missiles here in Kyiv. That's how resilient they've become to these attacks. But turning out in thousands in a central place like this, that makes them a target. And I asked a lot of these protesters if they weren't worried about that and they said to me, yes, I'm really scared. I'm really scared that a Russian missile is going to rain down upon me as I protest here for my freedom, for this country to behave like a European one and not a Russian one. But they said to me, and this is a direct quote from a 19 year old girl who talked to me as I walked home, she said, this is higher than anything. I mean, I don't know what you were doing when you were a 19 year old girl, but I certainly wasn't out on the streets braving Russian attacks, fighting for my country. It was a really breathtaking moment for me.
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Latika, keep safe. That's Latika Burke of the Nightly joining us from Kyiv. There now, still to come on the.
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Press program, before I knew it, I was having, you know, mezcal shots with the mayor of Guadalajara and the protagonist of the art scene. So you never know where these trips will take you. It certainly wasn't what I was expecting. But, you know, Mexicans know how to have a good time.
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Tales from Monocle's survey of Mexico for our latest issue of the Entrepreneurs. This is the Globalist. Each of us has a craft, a calling that inspires a us. Whether it's how a coffee is brewed, a chair is built, or how money is looked after, there's a love for the work, a care that compels you forward. For us at ubs, it's about designing a unique outcome for you because whatever your craft may be, ours is built around helping you succeed. UBS banking is our craft. This is the Globalist on Monocle Radio. It's 7:23 here in London. I'm Georgina Godwin and I'm joined in the studio by Yossi Meckelberg, who's senior consulting fellow at the Middle east and North Africa Program at Chatham House. We're going to have a look through the papers and of course you'll see the big story and one that we're certainly reporting in our headlines today is this huge hunger crisis in Ghan.
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Good morning, Juliana. I mean, who could have imagined, you know, when the war started, we got to the point that it's not only about war and whatever the objective of defeating Hamas, obviously bringing back the hostages, we are in a stage that you have people starving, that's nearly 10% of the population on the verge of starvation. We see pictures coming from Gaza that reminds us very dark days. And I think especially for Jewish people, it should resonate with some very dark parts in history. And we hear that already 111 died out of malnutrition and 44 only this week. Which tells you this become exponential. And unlike, you know, when people shooting, it's an immediate and alpha. It's all terrible starvation. It's a process. It's a very, very painful, painful process of dying from starvation. And when you go to this, so you have months actually to prevent it and to avert it. And already more than a year and a half ago, the International Court of Justice told Israel that it has responsibility and ordered it to stop starvation. This has nothing to do with the war itself. This is a responsibility of a country that right now occupies much, much of Great Gaza and in charge of most of the population there, that people won't starve. But in its misguided conflict with UNRWA and other UN agencies and NGOs that have the capacity to provide food and medical aid, stop them from providing. They actually have the expertise, they know how to do that created the boat that doesn't function, which is the GHF that has a humanitarian fund. People actually are shot while they are queuing for food. And no one in Israel right now, within the government and even I would say within the population, people will go out to the street and say, don't do it in our name. Whatever you find the aims of the war, make sure that people are not starving there. And because this is at the end of the day, this is a war crime. This is a crime against humans, humanity.
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Absolutely. Let's move on to this specious lawsuit. It would seem to me Brigitte Macron is being accused of being born a man called Jean Michel Trunneur.
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Again, this is one of the stories that I think only at the age of social media can gather so much momentum. And it's almost always terrible right now in the way that we deal with truth and information or more fake news, is that someone comes with this idea that Michelle Macron is actually was born a man and she stole the identity of her brother and she's a blood relative of the president. And there is misogynism about it, I think also because of the age difference between her and Emmanuel Macro. And this God has mentally. And there is this, you know, this influencer again, another term which God knows who invented the influencer, which means she has like 7 million followers on X and 4.4 million followers on YouTube. So you can say whatever you like about people. She's called Candace Owens. Not that we should give her more publicity. And people say it is kind of between cheap entertainment or light entertainment. And maybe they believe in Some conspiracy theories that anyway, Macron was installed by the CIA and she had like eight part series on YouTube about it. And I think the Macron says enough is enough, but this is very risky. And suddenly in Delaware where her companies are based, she's an American influencer and said enough. But this is risky because it means if, if they manage to get away, she will just before it gets to court, she will apologize, retract or something like this would be out of court settlement. If not, there is always the danger that all their private life will be dragged in court. Which all considered what we know might also be unplanned. But the fact, you know, this is the difference between the French and Americans. The French don't care about it. Not the age difference, not well, whether you know, Bushy MC in other places more conservative, this became a big issue. But also the ability to spread these lies in such speed everywhere and people just sit there and believe that this is right.
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It's quite extreme.
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But I think if it goes to court and there is a decision about that, I think this is important, that this needs to stop. And the difference between what is true society that we don't know what's truth and not what's not truth, what is a lie can survive.
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Absolutely. I mean what did she do with her brother? I mean there are so many questions here. Let's.
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It's. It's one of the story that should have probably, you know, lived maximum 24 hours and now it's like four years and will end in court and drag on forever.
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Extraordinary and extraordinary that he should ask that they should sue, I think.
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But I think when this story goes on and you don't, at certain point people don't retract and not respond to lawyers letters say can you, can we just stop it? It's just alright. If they don't respond like this, maybe they're instrumental in this. So they are almost forced to take legal actions against it. And this continues.
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Yossi, before you go, I just want to have a very quick look at a wonderful exhibition that you went to at the National Gallery.
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Yeah, it's nice actually to take a break from all this kind of, of ridiculous news and tragic news and to go and spend it was a Friday afternoon in exhibition which of Jose Maria Velasco, a Mexican painter polymath and usually we're more aware of people like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo when it comes to Mexican art. But he is equal in Mexico in his fame there and his landscape art is just beautiful. One of my favorite is a huge cacti and a song person next to it and give you a sense of proportion. And when you see that, you also see the depth perception. And what was nice about this exhibition, it was followed by a concert by a guitarist, very famous. Again, Morgan Zemensky is a Mexican guitarist and the paintings or the photos of the paintings were behind him. And it took you through the music on a journey through Mexico. So it was just beautiful. Followed by Mexican food. It was the perfect evening.
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It sounds amazing. And of course, we are focusing on Mexico in our brand new edition of the Entrepreneurs. And we'll hear about that a little bit later in the program. Yossi Meckelberg, thank you very much indeed. You're with the Globalist on Monocle Radio. Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. Gaza is facing man made mass starvation, according to the head of the World Health Organization, who says Israel's blockade is preventing food, water and medicine from reaching civilians. Over 100 aid agencies have warned of looming famine as tons of supplies sit untouched just outside the strip. Thailand and Cambodia have traded blame over deadly border clashes following weeks of rising diplomatic tensions and fresh landmine injuries. Bangkok has expelled Cambodia's ambassador and recalled its own after a second Thai soldier lost a limb in the contested zone. And Donald Trump's name appears in Justice Department records related to the Epstein case. That's according to the Wall Street Journal. The revelation risks fueling a spiraling political crisis as critics point to the gap between the administration's messaging and the facts emerging. This is THE Globalist. Stay tuned now for a look behind the headlines. Here's Monocle's Rory Jones on the mayor of San Jose's new exploits in the world of artificial intelligence.
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We've used it in so many different cases. Now we're speeding up bus routes in.
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San Jose using AI.
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We're improving language translation and public meetings. We're doing object identification to get ahead.
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Of potholes on city roads as they form.
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This artificial intelligence revolution is happening right here in San Jose.
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Matt Mahan, the current mayor of San Jose in California, is excited by artificial intelligence's ability to streamline city life. But is he using it to cut corners as well? Mahan's enthusiasm is no doubt aided by the reality that most startups in the space are on his doorstep. Between 2023 and 2020, 65% of the global venture capital on AI projects was funneled into Silicon Valley. As a result, Mahan has been quick to weave the software into the city's fabric. Today, just shy of 150 stoplights in the Silicon Valley capital are equipped with an AI tool that optimizes bus trips, allowing buses to reach green light sooner and making their commute 20% faster than before. Air quality, energy use and waste management are all on AI's list of problems to tackle, but not all change is positive.
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I don't find that very surprising.
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It's not exactly an admission.
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We've been saying that, and I think.
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That'S pretty widely known. And I'm certainly not the only one.
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In the public sector using ChatGPT because.
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It'S such a powerful tool.
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Last week Mahan went on record saying that he uses ChatGPT to write his speeches and draft talking points. And this week the city government celebrated speech staff who completed a 10 week course on how to create their own AI assistants to serve departments. Using technology to smooth commutes and clean streets seems smart, but will San Jose's town hall meeting soon be replaced by a chatbot?
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Thank you to Rory Jones and for more from Monacle's editors and correspondents around the world, do sign up for our free daily newsletter, the Monocle Minute at Monocle 2 Today marks the release of Monocle's latest issue of the Entrepreneurs. Our magazine focused on sharp business ideas and innovative founders from around the world. This issue features a special survey on Mexico compiled during a visit by our Europe editor at large, Ed Stocker and writer Claudia G. Jacob. Now Monaco's Chris Chermac spoke with our two traveling companions and began by asking Ed, who was formerly our America's editor at large, what it was like to return to his former patch.
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The Great Return? Yeah, indeed. I mean, I used to be based in New York, as some listeners will know. So I used to travel to Mexico a lot. Actually, I used to do quite a lot of reporting from that. Yeah, I hadn't been in about four or five years. I definitely noticed. And there is a boom, you know, in tourism. I don't want to claim that Mexico was undiscovered, but the last time I went there that's not true. But I think they say a lot of people moved to Mexico in the pandemic. And the figures we unveiled when we were doing this survey, we're talking about a boom in places everywhere from Mexico City to Oaxaca City. Lots of people moving there. So I did notice walking around, for example, Mexico City, I I heard a lot more English than I remembered last time. So I think people have discussed discovered Mexico City water, colorful, diverse, beautiful place it is, with great food and so much going on culturally and in the design world and it's safe. So people have been moving there and coming on holiday more and you see that. So it was great to be back.
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Chris, Claudia, jump in here, give us.
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Some of your impressions. And also maybe this is a good point to just ask why did we go to Mexico now for this survey? What attracted us to Mexico?
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Yeah, it's interesting because we have the two sort of opposite views. Obviously Ed knows Mexico fairly well and it was my first time going to Mexico, so I sort of was looking at through completely fresh eyes. And yeah, I mean, Mexico City is really everything people tell you about and more. I mean, it won our award in the July August issue, the Quality of Life issue for conviviality. And that's probably a perfect way of encapsulating the atmosphere and ambiance that you feel as you walk around Mexico City. And I think now is such an interesting time for us to look at Mexico from a business and entrepreneurship perspective because it's currently the second largest economy in Latin America after Brazil. And it has a really strategic location with its bordering America to the north and the rest of South America to the south. So there was plenty to unpack there and also to show maybe a different side of Mexico that people were slightly less familiar with.
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Ed, you talked about the tourism aspects, but there is, of course, given that this is the entrepreneur's magazine, a lot of the focus is on the business. This as well, you covered a lot of places, you covered a lot of different businesses. What kind of businesses stood out to you?
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My gosh, Yeah. I mean, obviously it's a hard task. Mexico is a massive country. It's massively diverse in terms of its topography. So trying to encapsulate that in a guide within the entrepreneurs is a difficult task in terms of, you know what stood out to me? Discovering Oaxaca Aerospace that's building this made in Mexico jet that it's hoping to sell to other countries and is in the testing phase at the moment. It's done a couple of prototypes. Was was really fascinating for me. I got to speak to its general manager, Rodrigo Fernandez. Also, you know this E mobility player called Vemo that's based in Mexico City, founded by a Mexican and an Argentinian and just, you know, they weren't around last time I was in Mexico. So it was really interesting to ride in one of them. They are sort of E mobility company using electric cars, working with ride heading platforms. So yeah, two really interesting businesses that kind of show how I guess the market's Maturing. And it's not just, you know, assembly and manufacturing. Manufacturing. Rather, there's a lot more to Mexico than meets the eyes.
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Claudia, among the many things that you did on this trip as well, I know, was look at the art scene in Guadalajara. You wrote a long piece about that. Was that one of your highlights or something else?
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F
For sure. It was really interesting to see galleries, some of which originated in Europe, some of which originated in Mexico City, find a real opportunity in Guadalajara. There's a lot of raw materials and resources there, but also a slightly a scene that allows them to breathe a bit more away from, you know, the main arts capital in Mexico. There's a huge arts fair in Mexico City called Zonamaco, but they've established one that exists in the week before Zonamaco in Guadalajara called Premaco. And it's nice to see Mexico second city thrive in an area that Mexico City is well known for. And I think it's proof actually of how self sufficient Mexicans can be. It's something that really struck me when I was there. You know, they've obviously got a long history of relations with the US and those relationships have come under tension with all of these tariffs. But I think it's just cemented the fact that they have a lot of resources and in Mexico and they can build on that. In terms of my highlight, I did, while I was in Guadalajara, meet the mayor and had a sort of very strange and unexpected encounter. We sort of. We had a really interesting interview in her office. The interview is in Monocle's July August issue. But shortly after that, I was due to be meeting someone called Jose Noe Souro, who's sort of the protagonist of the Guadalajara art scene. He's the guy who put me in touch with everyone. He's super well connected and has really welcomed a lot of artists from all over the world into his ceramics factory. And while I was at lunch with the mayor, she said to me, like, oh, I hear you're going to a bar with Jose. And I was like, yeah, that's right. And she was like, I'll come with you, I'll come with you. And she said, have you got a taxi? And I said, no, no. She said, you come in my car. So we got in her bulletproof car and we went down the streets to go to a bar. And before I knew it, I was having mezcal shots with the mayor of Guadalajara and the protagonist of the art scene. So you never know where these trips will take you at. Certain certainly wasn't what I was expecting, but you know, Mexicans know how to have a good time and she really proved that. That is quite the story. Ed.
- [41:13]
C
Ed, top that.
- [41:15]
I
You know what?
- [41:15]
D
I can't.
- [41:16]
I
I mean, I think that's a pretty good way to live your first experience in Mexico. I can top it in other countries. I've got other stories, but no, she beats me.
- [41:27]
C
We'll go into all your, all your in depth stories from other places another time. Just finally. Any particular takeaways? What, what makes Mexico such a good place right now? Interesting place. Case for entrepreneurship, Ed.
- [41:39]
I
I mean, I think the takeaway from just talking to inspiring entrepreneurs is that if you believe in something, you should go for it. What I'm trying to say is I met some people who had these ideas and they just completely saw it through. You know, I'm thinking about a couple that I met in Cadetero who set up a creative design business called Calada and a brewery. And they just really believed in it and went for it and had this passion. So my takeaway from me meeting loads of interesting people is if you have what you think is a good idea, stick with it, go for it.
- [42:12]
C
Claudia, aside from mezcal shots, what's, what's your takeaway?
- [42:16]
F
I think maybe a lot of the sort of new entrepreneurs who are emerging now are showing that, you know, there is an idea of what makes Mexico Mexico, but you don't necessarily have to stick with that. You know, you can fuse it with other concepts. I saw plenty of restaurants doing really interesting, you know, fusions, Nordic fusion, Japanese fusions. I even talked to a restaurant that was the first restaurant in Mexico to become zero waste. A lot of the very savvy entrepreneurs and small businesses that I talked to showed that they really know how to tap into these growing sectors and be successful.
- [42:46]
A
That was Monocle's Claudia Jacob and Ed Stocker there in conversation with Chris Chermak. The ninth issue of the Entrepreneurs and its Mexico survey is on newsstands now. You're with Monocle rich radio. It's 1542 in Seoul. At 7:42 here in London, the United States and Japan have reached a trade deal that sets tariffs at 15%, far lower than the 25% Washington had initially floated. The agreement is now putting South Korea under pressure to secure similar terms. Seoul is still facing the full 25% rate on its exports. And with an August 1 deadline looming, emergency talks were set to take place in Washington on Friday. They've now been postponed. Well, I'm joined now by Myung Kyu Shim who's associate professor at the School of Economics at Yonsai University in South Korea. Many thanks for coming on the program. Why is this meeting not going ahead as planned? It's so important.
- [43:51]
H
It seems to be a kind of the strategies that the US Government can put on the other countries. So it still has a negotiation power. And it seems that the US Government wants to gain more negotiation power to most of the countries that it is negotiating with. And I think that's also for the case of Korea after they finish the negotiation with Japan.
- [44:19]
A
If South Korea fails to secure the same treatment as Japan, what could that mean for its economy in the long term?
- [44:27]
H
There can be many channels through which such situation impacts the Korean economy in the long run. Let me just point out one particular channel that I think are important through increased political turmoil in Korea because of of its impact on the new government that began about one and a half months ago. Given the rivalry in the market between Korea and Japan, failure to secure conditions that are similar to what the Japanese government has achieved would make President Lee and his government face criticism from the other political parties. And this implies that there would be greater uncertainty ahead of Korea, especially during this period of political polarization. Then it would not be easy for the government to implement its own long run goals to make the Korean economy to be fundamentally stronger than before because such policies would make the society to be more divided given that some industries or workers will need to sacrifice.
- [45:37]
A
And just briefly, how can Korea then South Korea future proof its economy in this very unpredictable trade environment.
- [45:49]
H
Especially the phones. I think the funds need to cleanse the kind of the old process and invest more actively in the new technologies. And the government needs to put some resources to have the funds to get the better technologies. And this is just kind of the stereotypical answer, but it is still typical because it's the kind of the only answer or solution that can make the funds of Korea more profitable and more fundamentally strong in the long run. And through taking some risk, because having innovations take some risk, it can achieve greater return. And that's the kind of strategies both the firm and the government of Korea has to follow. And it seems that the trade regime has changed a lot and relying on the typical policies to make the Korea have more price competitiveness and the global market seems to be go away. And producing more creative goods in an innovative way would make the Korean economy to be better than.
- [47:10]
A
Thank you very much indeed. This is the globalist on Monocle Radio, iq, EQ and AI. Three components key to the craft of innovation at ubs. Because to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving age, you need a partner with decades of experience, endless package passion for the work, and a finger on the pulse of leading technologies. Bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence. All to elevate you. UBS Banking is Our Craft the Yokohama Museum of Art reopened in February February 2025 after a three year renovation. At the museum's second exhibition since, it's threw open its doors again, they're showcasing the creativity of Sato Masahiko, a multimedia creator with enormous influence in Japan. Monocle's Ryoma Takahashi reports.
- [48:18]
C
Sato Masashiko is one of Japan's leading multimedia creators. Every Japanese person knows his work. From famous TV combination commercials to NHK educational programs like Pitagorasuichi and the mega hit song Dango San Kyodai Three Dango Brothers. This exhibition explores his creative philosophy through work spanning multiple media. To understand it better, I spoke with Akihoashi, International Group Director at the Yokohama Museum of Art.
- [48:51]
B
Early in his career, he created television commercials for products such as potato chips and soft drinks. But he later did developed an interactive computer game for Sony before transitioning into academia as a professor. And then he began exploring new models methods for producing creative content. Together with a team of his former students, he went on to create educational programs for Japan's national television channel, programs that have since become a staple. First of all, he doesn't call himself an artist, although he's exhibiting an art museum. He's significant because he hasn't had any formal training training as any art or design training. So he tells us that he first did not really know how to make things, creative things at all. But he realized if one could create or conceive the ways of creating or ways of making, as the exhibition title goes, then unique and creative contents will follow as a consequence. So some of his ways, you know, this is including like making rules and setting what he calls the tone or what we would call the myriad of the contents. So he claims that he has been able to produce many contents by tapping into the veins of rules and tones. So his significance perhaps is to say that he has been a communication designer who creates his own rules that really taps into a wider audience and very popular. Many people don't know his name, but many people in Japan would know what he has created, be it commercial games or other educational program content.
- [50:28]
C
Looking at his works, you will notice everything is based on simple ideas and expressions that stick in your memory. The underlying his philosophy is clear. Discovering rules for enjoying something as hi mentioned, his approach has Two main principles. First rules. Instead of starting with visuals or stories, he creates the underlying structure first, the repeating rules and the patterns within the work. When making TV commercials, he started with thinking about memorable sound patterns, not visuals. This principle created his masterpiece, the Pitagura Machine. This small segment from his show Pitagora Suichi features elaborate chain reaction machines like Rube Goldberg machine, but uses everyday household items to make physics and cause and effect. Entertaining and accessible for children. This masterpiece was born from his passion for creating ways to educate and has rules that produce rhythmic systems and sounds, tone setting a simple yet unique worldview that defined work. Take his famous song Dango San Kyodai 3 Dango Brothers, which sold over 3 million CDs. He looked at Japanese dango, just three round dumplings on a stick, and imagined their family story, wondering which dumpling was the older brother and which was younger. This world debut emerged from his experiment. How can we create stories and tone from a figure as simple as three circles pierced by a single line?
- [52:18]
B
What is introduced in this exhibition is his kind of his lifelong pursuit of communicating with people. He wants to deliver his thoughts, but he's been always pursuing ways of making as well as ways of understanding understanding. So he has this passion to deliver something so that people understand how things work. So he's interested in letting people know the way to understand things as well. And so the show, the exhibition starts with his earlier career of doing TV commercial in an adverse company. But his later years are based on mainly as a professor working with his students and creating these programs. Programs. And he does really rigorous research into. It's not marketing research, it's about research on how you could make rules. What is the algorithm? What is computing? So I think that in depth research informs his contents. And so his pursuit of education.
- [53:26]
A
Not.
- [53:27]
B
Educating people, but to build a way of educating, educating people, has been his passion. And this is all demonstrated throughout the exhibition through objects, texts and also many, many films or videos.
- [53:42]
C
At Yokohama Museum of Art, Sato Masahiko's philosophy and works are sure to inspire you. For Monocle in Tokyo, I'm Ryuma Takahashi.
- [53:53]
A
Ryuma, thank you very much indeed. You're listening to the Globalist on Monica Radio Radio. And finally, on today's show, let's examine the stories swirling around the small screen. I'm joined on the line by Scott Bryan, who's a TV critic and a media contributor for Monocle, the Guardian and the New York Times. Good morning to you, Scott.
- [54:17]
J
Morning.
- [54:18]
A
Let's talk about this German streamer summit. What is it?
- [54:22]
J
So essentially it was, it took place the other day and, and it is for the encouragement to have more productions filmed in Germany. And basically the idea is that there's been a lot of concern around the dominance of US streaming giants. And the idea would be that by offering tax breaks, but also kind of, and a bit of encouragement, the hope is that they would be able to invest more in German production and help the German TV and film industry. I think, I think what, what is significant at the moment is that sort of a lot of countries are currently doing this. In the uk there's a lot of tax breaks given to the film industry. Throughout Europe, you know, there's a lot of offers to try to appease big streaming giants, but the general issue, I think is the lack of productions that are currently being made. Generally. There's been a real slow in the film and TV industry over the course of the last few years. It's not a UK specific issue, it's actually a European one. Just because streamers are realizing we don't need to have so many productions per year. But of course not only have these in throughout Europe, a lot of sort of TV and film companies being heavily affected by this slowdown, they've also been affected by the changes of our viewing habits and also the decline of linear traditional TV channels.
- [55:46]
A
While the change of our viewing habits is at the core of our next story from the Financial Times. It says that YouTube could be forced to promote British public service television content. That is of course, because we're all turning to YouTube and no longer watching in the way we used to.
- [56:01]
J
Exactly. If you go on to, if you have a fun morning read of the BBC Annual report, which is what I did because I. I'm a nerd. You will see that actually when it comes to younger viewers, particular predominantly under the age of 16s, you'll see that many more of them are actually going onto YouTube than actually watching BBC content. And of course that's a big concern for public service broadcasters because if they don't get that next generation in to watching BBC content, then you know, they are not going to end up paying for a license fee when they are able to because they don't see the BBC or other PSPs for them. So. So Ofcom are trying to. I mean, they're starting to sort of see whether YouTube could have more prominence for ITV, Channel 4 and BBC content. In the same way that they just sort of pass through a, a rule that says that when you buy a new TV it has to have a button that's prominent for BBC iPlayer, for ITVX and so on. I guess the challenges is that in the weather, these big tech companies would actually comply with this. I think there's also another wider issue that the shows that we watch on YouTube, the stuff that we find on social media is different than the TV shows that we generally watch. Of course, you know, we could be watching a cat video or something that could be fairly innocuous, whilst when we sit down in front of the tv, generally we're watching something maybe a bit more well packaged and put together. So I think this is the classic case of old media and new media having a bit of a rivalry. But new media has substantially more money and power, maybe provenance.
- [57:35]
A
Yeah. Well, the death of an iconic old media show. That's the Late show with Stephen Colbert, it turns out, although he announced it just the night before his agent, new weeks in advance.
- [57:45]
J
Yes, according to some, a report by the Angler, Colbert's longtime manager, a person called Dixon, knew prior to when Colbert went on holiday, which was sort of two weeks earlier. So, so the timeline has been, you might have seen in the news that Paramount had settled it with CBS in regards to, sorry, Parma had settled, settled with Trump in regards to sort of Trump's false allegation that Kamala Harris, that CBS had edited Kamala Harris's interview to be, to be in favor of Kamala ahead of the US Presidential election. Trump had threatened a lawsuit. Paramount had settled. Colbert then criticized that on his late night TV show as a bribe and then two days later it ended up with the show being cancelled. Turns out that looks like at least that the cancellation has been in the works for a little while longer. But I mean, of course a lot of speculation about whether, you know, Colbert's left leaning views, anti Trump views have been a factor.
- [58:50]
A
Absolutely. Scott, thank you very much indeed. And that's all we have time for on today's program. Thanks to our producers, Anita Riota, Royoma Takahashi and Chris Chermack, my researcher Henry King and our studio manager, Elliot Greenfield with editing and assistance from Hunter Wang. After the headlines. There's more music on the way and I'll be back with the Briefing, which is live at midday in London. And the Globalists will return at the same time tomorrow. And in between, lots of sharp programming and great music. So do stay with us. I'm Georgina Godwin. Thank you for listening.