China’s increasing influence in the global economy is the focus of The University of Western Ontario China Research and Policy Group, which was officially launched yesterday (Aug. 11) in the Faculty of Social Science.
The group, led by Economics professor John Whalley, is based at the Economic Policy Research Institute in the Department of Economics at Western and partners with The Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo. It also involves several partnering research groups in universities and research institutions in China, U.K., Russia and India.
China Research and Policy Group at Western principal participants Jim Davies, John Whalley and Terry Sicular discuss China’s growing influence in the global economy with Gao Minghua, Associate Dean of the School of Economics and Business Administration at Beijing Normal University.
As a research and policy analysis and dialogue group, whose central focus is China’s ongoing integration and involvement in the global economy, it will focus on trade and foreign investment inflows and outflows; involvement in international bodies, such as the G20 and World Bank; exchange rate and reserve management policies; China’s growing Southern engagement; regional trade and monetary policies; and domestic issues, such as enterprise reform, Chinese tax policy and labour markets.
The group also supports interaction with the business community inside and outside China.
“China is rapidly growing and rapidly changing,” says Whalley. “The growth has been concentrated on the coastal areas, but is spreading inland. China is going through a major transformation and with it, in my opinion, the whole global economy will go through major change.”
For example, personal incomes in China have increased eightfold since 1978. If the 7.5 per cent annual income growth is sustained between 2000 and 2050, incomes will increase by 30 times the amount.
The group will host conferences, workshops and support research papers and visits by distinguished scholars, and private sector and international agency interactions.
Currently, the group is engaging with partner Chinese institutions and CIGI on the Ontario Research Fund Project (ORF) on China (and the South). This is a five-year project, partly funded by the provincial government, to achieve policy impact in China and cover China’s interactions with other larger developing countries.
The ORF project focuses on five themes: China’s trade and investment; exchange rates, reserve management, and monetary policies; China and climate change; China’s tax policies; and China and the South.
“There is clearly a provincial interest in having a better understanding and more information into what is happening in China and what these changes are,” he says.
The ORF would like to see the development of major research on China and the Chinese economy, he notes, including China’s interaction with India, Brazil and Russia.
The group has also developed the Young China Scholars Program to network with young academics to produce ongoing policy-relevant research and impact policy.
“The changes taking place in the educational structure are so remarkable and so dramatic that China recently is becoming a major player in international scholarship and international academic activity,” says Whalley. “For Western, I think it is very critical to be part of that.”
Representatives from Beijing Normal University, including School of Economics and Business Administration Associate Dean Gao Minghua, attended the launch. Beijing Normal University and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences are the principal Chinese partners in the Young China Scholars Program.
Chunbing Xing, a visiting postdoctoral fellow from Beijing Normal University, says participating in the program is a unique opportunity.
“I think this is a very good opportunity for young scholars in China to be involved in these kind of activities. We do research on China and we have this international environment.”
Click here for more information on the project.