In the morning of January 7, 2010, “China's Economy in 2010", co-organized by the China Center for Economic Research (CCER) of Peking University and US National Committee on US-China Relations, was successfully held in New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). To celebrate the event, the NYSE hung the national flag of the People''''s Republic of China at its main building together with the national flag of the United States, reflecting the colorful lights of the Christmas tree in front of the NYSE. This was the first time that a Chinese organization held such an event in NYSE. Seven Chinese economists, including Professor Justin Yifu Lin, the chief economist of World Bank, and QIN Xiao, chairman of the China Merchants Group, delivered speeches, and 350 people from Wall Street, the US government and research institutes attended the Forum and interacted with the Chinese economists.
Mr. Stephen Orlins, president of the National Committee on US-China Relations, delivered the opening speech. He believed that the event was held at a very good moment and had great influence on the American high-end economic circle. After him, the NYSE CEO Dunean Niederauer addressed the forum, in which he introduced the overall situation of the Chinese enterprises listed in NYSE and expressed his welcome to the Chinese economists. Next, Professor WU Ho-Mou, executive deputy director of CCER, also gave a speech on behalf of the Center, briefly introducing the Center and wishing the Forum a success.
Professor Justin Lin gave a keynote speech entitled "Rebalancing Chinese and World Economy". He emphasized that Chinese exports to the US are in line with China's comparative advantage and will not be produced in the US even if China stops exporting them. In the Q&A section, attendees from governments, research institutes and financial companies raised questions to Professor Lin about the exchange rate, the exit of active fiscal policy and China-US trade. His humorous answers triggered applauses and laughters from the audience.
After Professor Lin, Qin Xiao, chairman of the China Merchants Group, delivered a keynote speech entitled "Observations of and Thoughts on the Chinese Economy in the Post-crisis Time". He especially emphasized the importance of reform in rebalancing the Chinese economy, including transformation of governmental functions, deregulation of factor prices, further privatization of SOEs and political reform. His intriguing opinions received active responses from the audiences and enthusiastic interactions.
Five other Chinese economists gave speeches after the two keynote speeches. Professor Lu Feng from CCER introduced the "China Economic Observer" (CEO) forecast program run in CCER, and presented predictions on the macroeconomic indicators of China in 2010 and beyond. In particular, he predicted that the Chinese economy will overtake the United States to become the world''''s No.1 economy by 2025. Then, Mr. Wang Jian-Ye, chief economist of the Export-Import Bank of China, spoke his views on the risks and opportunities facing foreign investors under the large flow of foreign capital into China; Professor Xiao Geng, director of the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, discussed the uncertainties that might affect China''''s macro policies in 2010; Professor Yao Yang from CCER discussed China''''s export-led growth model from the perspective of China's demographic structure; and Professor Huang Yiping from CCER put forth a solution to end China''''''''s economic imbalances from the perspective of factor market liberalization.
At the critical point of global economic recovery, it is not difficult to imagine the attraction of holding this event at NYSE to the financial and economic circles represented by Wall Street around the corner. Top speakers, right-to-the-point topics, passionate and in-depth discussions, as well as high-level interaction have made this forum not only an academic gala, but also depict a clear vision for the trend of the Chinese economy in 2010. The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Financial Times, as well as many Chinese media including CCTV and Xinhua News Agency covered this forum. CCTV aired the forum on January
First US-China Economic Dialogue Successfully Held in New York
The first US-China Economic Dialogue, jointly sponsored by CCER, the National School of Development at Peking University and the National Committee on US-China Relations, was held in New York on January 8-9, 2010. Nineteen Chinese and American attendees exchanged their opinions on various issues including the RMB exchange rate, trade protectionism, the role of government in economy and climate change, and reached some consensus. The American side had better and more comprehensive understanding of China's structural adjustment efforts, and the Chinese side had deeper understanding of the recession and its consequences in the United States. Both the Chinese and American sides submitted policy suggestions to their respective governments based on the outcome of the dialogue.
List of Participants
From China:
Qin Xiao (Chair of the Chinese team)
Huang Yiping, Lu Feng, Wang Jian-Ye, Wu Ho-Mou, Xu Jintao, Xiao Geng, Yang Zhuang, Yao Yang
From the United States:
Carla Hills (co-chair of the American team), Hank Greenberg (co-chair of the American team)
Martin Feldstein, Trevor Houser, Nick Lardy, David Malpass, Barry Naughton, Stephen Orlins, Robert Rubin, Jeffrey Shafer
