Chinese and Asian supply chain and funding in an era of geopolitical tensions
Andrew Sheng (Distinguished Fellow, Asia Global Institute, The University of Hong Kong, Pro-Chancellor, University of Bristol, and Chief Adviser, China Banking Regulatory Commission) will deliver a lecture on Chinese and Asian supply chain and funding in an era of geopolitical tensions. The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session.
The geopolitical tensions between US-China has led to what is known as decoupling or derisking of global supply chain, particularly in technology and areas sensitive to national security. Supply chains have been under stress even before COVID and natural disasters, but the imposition of sanctions and "friendshoring", measures that impact on key materials, as well as tariffs, carbon border taxes, threaten to reduce trade efficiency and add costs due to loss of market scale.
Essentially, the issue of decoupling of currencies (fear of using USD due to sanction) have also added new risks to corporations operating in global supply chains. In the face of polycrises in terms of needing to deal with AI tech disruption, natural calamities, rise in civil conflicts and war, as well as pressure to deliver on NetZero and climate transition, who will fund these costs for advanced countries and emerging markets? Global savings are under stress, because the US accounts for 40% of global fiscal deficits and 60% of global current account deficits, which means that advanced countries are consuming most of the savings. It was difficult enough to fund at near zero interest rates all the gaps for meeting SDG goals. At 5% or more, and rising real interest rates as inflation slows, the funding gap will be even wider. This challenges the global financial system as the current Bretton Woods institutions cannot meet these gaps.
Andrew Sheng will examine the geopolitical and financial aspects of these trends.
Mr Andrew Sheng is a former central banker and financial regulator in Asia and a commentator on global finance. He is Pro-Chancellor of Bristol University and Distinguished Fellow, Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong, as well as Chairman, George Town Institute of Open and Advanced Studies, Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
He is the Chief Adviser to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, a member of the international advisory council of the China Investment Corporation, the China Development Bank, and China Securities Regulatory Commission. He was recently appointed one of the Chief Executive's Council of Advisers, The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Mr Sheng sits in the Advisory Board of Bank Indonesia Institute. He is a member of the Commission on Global Economic Transformation, chaired by Nobel Laureates Stiglitz and Spence. He is an International Advisory Board Member of Thailand Development Research Institute. He sits in the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) Leadership Council and as a Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Capital Market Research, Malaysia.
He served as Chairman of the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong from 1998 to 2005, having previously been a central banker with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Bank Negara Malaysia. He also worked with the World Bank from 1989 to 1993. From 2003 to 2005, he chaired the Technical Committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). He was a Board Member of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia.
Mr Sheng has a First Class Honours in Economics from Bristol University, and Honorary Doctorates from University of Bristol and University of Malaya. He is an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing and Faculty of Economics, University of Malaya. He is a Professor by Practice at the School of Business and Administration, Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.
He is author of From Asian to Global Financial Crisis: An Asian Regulator’s View of Unfettered Finance in the 1990s and 2000s (2009), and co-editor (with Ng Chow Soon) of the book, Bringing Shadow Banking into the Light: Opportunity for Financial Reform in China (2015). He writes regularly on international finance and monetary economics, financial regulation and global governance for Project Syndicate, AsiaNewsNet and leading economic magazines and newspapers in China and Asia. In April 2013, Andrew was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He also appeared in the Oscar-winning film Inside Job in 2011.
This is one of the events in the on-going China Forum Seminar series, hosted by the China Forum, Jesus College. The seminars, given by eminent speakers, cover a broad range of topics and disciplines.
Booking
This is a virtual seminar. Attendance is free. Advance booking is required by emailing: china-forum@jesus.cam.ac.uk. Priority will be given to members of Jesus College and the University of Cambridge.
