Business China and SPH Media Trust’s Chinese-language newspaper “Lianhe Zaobao” jointly organised the third annual “Decoding China’s Two Sessions” Forum on April 7, 2022. Guest speakers, Professor Tan Kong Yam, Nanyang Technological University Economics Professor, and Mr Tommy Xie, OCBC Bank’s Head of Greater China Research & Strategy, delivered their keynote presentations centered on the theme: “Two Sessions under Glooming Geopolitics: Decoding China’s Economic Development”. The forum included a 70-minute Q&A session that was moderated by Ms Han Yonghong, Associate Editor, Lianhe Zaobao and Editor, Zaobao.com.
The forum was open to the public and held in a hybrid format, attracting more than 500 sign ups; the onsite participants included about 100 invited Business China members, while online participants watched the forum live on Zoom Webinar and via livestreaming on various social media platforms.
The discussions in this forum mainly analysed the internal and external challenges, as well as the medium and long-term trends faced by China, following the announcement of several policies at the Two Sessions (National People’s Congress (NPC) and National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)). The forum began with presentations made by both keynote speakers. Mr Tommy Xie’s presentation titled: “Finding Certainty Amid Uncertainty”, started with highlighting China’s 2022 economic growth target which is set at around 5.5%. This was followed by a discussion on the market’s reaction to this target and he summarised the uncertainties brought about by China’s recent zero-Covid strategy and the Ukraine crisis.
Professor Tan Kong Yam then took the stage, touching on several pointers in the work report issued at the Two Sessions, while explaining some macro-level issues, and structural concerns unique to China. Finally, Professor Tan also put forward some policy suggestions, as well as his views on future trends and the direction of the global system.
Participants actively posted questions to both speakers during the question-and-answer segment of the forum. They revolved around the direction of the China’s economy, the development US-China relations, and the impact of the current Ukraine crisis on China. Amongst them, the Ukraine crisis has caused some to speculate whether the US will sanction China in the same way as it did Russia. Pertaining to this question, both guests said that they believe the cost of doing so would be greater, hence, it is unlikely that the US will sanction China in the short term. Both experts also expressed deeper views on this topic, which can be found in this report published by Lianhe Zaobao.
The full video of the forum can be viewed in this post on Business China’s Facebook.