Economists, scholars weigh in on China's economy under new circumstances

What are the opportunities and challenges facing China’s economy and how is China’s economic outlook under new circumstances? Five renowned economists and scholars attending the PKU Shenzhen Forum 2023 provided their insights into these questions at the Wuzhou Guesthouse in Futian District on Saturday afternoon.

The PKU Shenzhen Forum 2023 is held at the Wuzhou Guesthouse in Futian District on Saturday afternoon. Courtesy of PHBS

Organized by the Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS), the forum attracted over 1,000 experts, scholars and entrepreneurs to exchange their views revolving around the theme “China’s Economy: New Trend, New Development.” The forum was moderated by Hai Wen, founding dean of PHBS, vice chairman of the Peking University Council and former vice president of Peking University.

Renowned economists and scholars attend the forum. 

Zhang Jin, vice president of Peking University and chancellor of the Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, noted in an opening address that the PKU Shenzhen Forum should serve as a platform for the exchanges of in-depth views and dialogues, to stimulate original thoughts, and ultimately promote the transformation and upgrading of China’s economy and contribute to China’s high-quality development.

Huang Qifan, former mayor of Chongqing, shared in his keynote speech the five new features of China’s opening up since the 18th National Congress of the CPC as well as five new important tasks of China’s opening up outlined in the report to the 20th National Congress.

Chen Deming, former minister of commerce, elaborated on the topic of economic globalization and different countries’ coping tactics. Chen pointed out that we should face up to the fact that the development is constrained by bottlenecks; however, “no matter how volatile the international situation is, we should stick to opening up and unswervingly embrace the inevitable trend of economic globalization.”

Prof. Liu Wei, former president of Renmin University of China, said that it is necessary to implement the new development concept, build a new development pattern and construct a modern economic system. In the meantime, China’s economy must shift its way of development, from high-speed development to high-quality development.

Zhu Min, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges and former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), shared his perspectives on the AI chatbot, ChatGPT.

Journalists attend the forum.

Initiated in 2007, the PKU Shenzhen Forum was originally an academic forum of the Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School. Since 2021, the forum has been expanded and upgraded into a platform for entrepreneurs, government leaders, experts and scholars to share experience and expertise.