event

The Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney, with support from the Australian National University's China Update, hosted the 30th Annual Conference of the Chinese Economics Society Australia (CESA) in 2018.

The theme of the conference was 'China’s economy in Xi Jinping’s "New Era"’. 

Dates: July 15-17 2018

Click here to download the conference flyer.

Click here to download the program overview.

Click here for the opening address by Dr Geoff Raby, former Australian Ambassador to China, July 16 2018.

Click here for the ACRI/CESA joint event: Where to for the Australia-China economic relationship?, July 17 2018.

Overview

At the recent 19th Party Congress in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated that he had no intention of letting China’s economic emergence stall now. While quantitative growth targets were downplayed compared with the past, Xi’s ‘New Era’ sees China smashing through the 'middle income trap'. There is now an obsessive focus on innovation and industrial upgrading in domestic economic policy. China’s economic diplomacy has also ramped up, as demonstrated by the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2015, and potentially far more significantly, the unfolding Belt and Road Initiative.

At the same time, China’s economic success is not guaranteed. There is the threat posed by high debt levels. Under President Xi China also appears to have re-emphasised the role of the state and many economists wonder whether this is consistent with the ongoing improvements in productivity that will be needed if living standards are to continue to rise. Across the Pacific, the United States looks set to take a harder line on China’s economic policies, such as its relative lack of openness to foreign investment and the fairness of the playing field on which its firms compete. And while the Belt and Road might generally be welcomed overseas as a concept, there are challenges in delivering projects that bring real development benefits for participating countries.

Sponsor

The Conference was sponsored by the Bank of China.

Supporters

ANU China Update

Journal of Environmental Management

Publications

CESA has secured special issues from three journals, China & World Economy, Journal of Environment Management and Chinese Journal of Population Resources and Environment, to publish high-quality papers presented at the conference. Papers submitted for consideration in special issues will still need to go through the regular journal review process. 

Conference enquiries: cesa2018@163.com

Other enquiries: Dr Xunpeng Shi, xunpeng.shi@uts.edu.au

Conference information: CESA website: http://www.ces-aus.org/; ACRI website: http://www.australiachinarelations.org/