China's Golden Week, pictured here in 2006, brought about significant consumer spending as people were free to shop without strict coronavirus restrictions. Credit: Jakob Montrasio, Creative Commons
LONDON — While much of the hand wringing over China has abated somewhat during the Covid-19 crisis, the fears animating Western attitudes toward that country have not disappeared, and could resurface at any moment. These tensions represent a major, vexing dilemma for the world, given China’s massive and growing economic power. And the situation certainly hasn’t been helped by the failure of the other major economic powerhouse, the United States, to manage the current crisis effectively.
Owing to my professional background, I usually approach issues like the Sino-American relationship first as a macroeconomist. But as the chair of Chatham House, I have been developing a more nuanced view of the issue, taking into account not just the economic dimension but also security, diplomacy, culture, and other factors.
To that end, it seems only reasonable that we should adopt a broader “optimization framework” for understanding and managing relations between China and the West. N
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When China announced it was ending quarantine requirements for incoming travelers, Chinese people collectively picked up their phones to search popular travel apps like Ctrip and Qunar. Owned by travel giant Trip.com, these apps helped Chinese travelers explore the world pre-pandemic and facilitated the human-to-human interactions that drove China's rise. But many of today's travelers seem to be sticking closer to home, and their hesitation to get back to the jetsetting habits of the past 20 years has far-reaching implications — especially for Trip.com.
The professor talks about China's real estate bubble; if China can develop a modern financial system without rule of law; and why it's not China that is reshaping the global order, but the world's response...