2018-10 Global Backlash Conference Offers Valuable Insights into National and Corporate Efforts to Cope with Anti-Globalization

In late October, the one-and-a-half-day Global Backlash conference, hosted by UC Berkeley and co-organized by the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center), Berkeley APEC Studies Center (BASC), and Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), took place at the University of California, Berkeley (USA). During the first day, participants, including academics and former and current policymakers, from China, Korea, India, Ireland, Singapore, and the US, spoke about the strategies that countries and companies were adopting to deal with the contemporary backlash against globalization. Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Wong MNC Center, spoke about China’s effort to leverage the BRI to promote Chinese technical and legal standards to deal with the challenges of anti-globalization. Regarding corporate strategies, commentators devoted special attention to the pathways being followed by Chinese and Korea technology companies. For the second day early morning session, presenters offered remarks about current issues pertaining to data protectionism and localization. The second day late morning session featured provocative remarks by corporate speakers from Facebook, Huawei, and Infosys. Sponsors for the event included the Wong MNC Center, MSPL Limited, CTLC, Institute for East Asian Studies, The Clausen Center, BASC, and others.