In today’s podcast:

An academic conference marking the 30th anniversary of the China Ryukyu research institute and advancing the development of the Ryukyu studies discipline was held over the weekend at Fujian Normal University. The Global Times spoke on Tuesday with Professor Xie Bizhen, academic head of the institute, who explained why deepening research on Ryukyu history continues to carry significant contemporary value for China-Japan relations.

Several Chinese travel agencies have warned that trips to Japan may be affected and some tour products could be suspended, the Global Times confirmed on Monday, with repercussions caused by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's wrongful Taiwan remarks continuing to unfold, prompting travelers' concerns and driving firms to reassess their Japan-bound offerings.

South African sinologist Paul Tembe, after two decades of interaction with China, sees the Communist Party of China not as a mere political party but as Chinese society's "engine and DNA." His perspective deepened after visiting the Red Flag Canal in Central China’s Henan Province, where he witnessed how CPC officials and ordinary people struggled shoulder to shoulder against nature.

The 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is being held in Belém, Brazil. The Global Times interviewed Siddharth Chatterjee, UN resident coordinator in China, who said that China's increased scale, experience and leadership would help transform COP30 from dialogue to delivery.

President of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Writer Association, Liu Liangcheng, has spent over a decade living in Caizigou village in the Kazak Autonomous County of Mori, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This is where Liu has written three of his most significant novels.