International Conference on The Political Economy of China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative and Southeast Asia a Resounding Success

On November 19 and 20, 2016, the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations (Wong MNC Center), in conjunction with the School of Advanced International and Area Studies (SAIAS) at East China Normal University (ECNU), the local host and co-sponsor, held, in Shanghai, an international conference on the Political Economy of China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI), a major policy initiative of the Chinese government under current President Xi Jinping, and Southeast Asia. Presenters included researchers and scholars from universities and official and non-official think tanks in China, the United States, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, among others. Speakers discussed their thoughts about the purposes of the MSRI, the political and economic challenges it faces outside and inside China at the national and subnational level, the impact of extra-regional players such as Japan and the United States and issues such as the South China Sea dispute on the current and future course of the MSRI, and other related themes. The conference included two keynote speeches. The first, entitled “MSRI and China-ASEAN Strategic Cooperation,” was given by Ambassador Wang Chungui, former Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and current Vice President, Association of Former Diplomats of China. The second, entitled “China and the US-Led World Order: Rule-Taker, Rule-Maker, or Rule-Breaker,” was delivered by Dr. Suisheng Zhao, Professor and Director of the Center for China-US Cooperation at Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver (USA) and founder and chief editor of the Journal of Contemporary China. Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Wong MNC Center and Distinguished Professor, ECNU SAIAS, noted the conference was valuable in shedding light on the opportunities and challenges China’s plan faces, the issues to which multinational corporations interested in the MSRI should be attentive, and the ways in which various parties can advance the scheme if they believe it worthwhile to support it. Dr. Blanchard said the conference is expected to lead to the publication of a book and a special journal issue and lauded the conference for the exchange opportunities that it afforded.