In The News

Beijing Puzzle

January 21, 2009
China is the world’s biggest economy, after the US and Japan, and almost became the world’s biggest exporter when global credit shrank and importing nations abruptly reduced demand. Yet the country still runs a record high trade surplus, as its exports remain competitive with those from South Korea or Taiwan. The Economist reports, “a more worrying reason why China bought less from the rest of...

Hu Jintao Takes Personal Charge of Fight Against Charter 08

Mark O'Neill January 16, 2009
A small group of Chinese intellectuals and activists published what’s called Charter 08, calling for an independent legal system, freedom of association and the end of one-party rule, timing their call with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reports Mark O’Neill for the Asia Sentinel. As the global economic downturn reduces demand for manufactured goods, closes...

US and China Must Tame Imbalances Together

Michael Pettis January 6, 2009
With surging liquidity and massive trade imbalances, no one should have been surprised by the global economic crisis, because as finance professor of Peking University Michael Pettis explains, this has been the historical pattern. Pettis details the history of the crisis, starting in 1980s, when US policy encouraged securitization of mortgages, converting illiquid assets into highly liquid...

Divergence Grows Between China and the West – Part II

Michael C. Davis December 23, 2008
The West expresses increasing concern as China seems bent on hewing its own course, even on domestic matters such as handling unrest in Tibet, while China naturally resents foreign interference in domestic affairs. In the second of this two-part YaleGlobal series on divergence in foreign policy between the West and China, law professor Michael Davis addresses the rising tension over Tibet as...

Asia Faces a Tough 2009 as Output Decreases

Michael Pettis December 15, 2008
Nations that engage in trading are not immune from the global economic crisis, as it spreads first throughout the trade-deficit, consumption nations and then on to the trade-surplus, producer nations, explains finance professor Michael Pettis for the Financial Times. Pettis offers three ways for the global economy to adjust: The rich countries can continue borrowing and consuming, or the trade-...

Obama’s First Trip Abroad Should Be to China

Jeffrey E. Garten December 12, 2008
President-elect Barack Obama confronts a daunting array of immediate economic and security challenges. But that does not mean the Obama administration should neglect building stronger ties with China, urges Jeffrey Garten, international trade and finance professor at Yale and a former US undersecretary of commerce for international trade. China and the US need each other to boost a weakened...

After the Boom, The Bust. Now What?

Zhang Hong December 12, 2008
Unemployment is on the climb in China, possibly approaching as high as 20 percent, and that could trigger some social unrest. Having lost their jobs, several million migrant workers are returning to their rural homes. Journalist Zhang Hong suggests that any unrest will be minimal as long as workers can use their savings, reduce expenses and receive fair compensation for any work done. Students...