One of the greatest global changes in the early 21st century, the rise of East Asia as an economic power, will come under the spotlight this month when experts from around the globe meet in Bristol to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Britain and the EU as China continues to open its markets and rapidly develop its economic strength.
Experts from the worlds of business and journalism with experience of China and East Asia will meet with academics from the University of Bristol and elsewhere at the launch conference of the University's new Centre for East Asian Studies.
Speakers will include Will Hutton, Governor of the London School of Economics, Joe Studwell, Editor of the China Economic Quarterly, Peter Nightingale, Chief Executive of the China Britain Business Council and Kenji Hiramatsu, Minister of the Embassy and Consul General of Japan.
The wide-ranging conference will look at the current situation in East Asia from an historical, economic and political point of view.
Professor Robert Bickers, Associate Director of the Centre for East Asian Studies will discuss the new Chinese boom from an historical perspective, comparing the situation of the 1920s and 1930s, when a confident, internationalised, and increasingly independent China was becoming strongly embedded in global trade and other networks, with the China of today.
Joe Studwell, Editor of the China Economic Quarterly and author of The China Dream and Asian Godfathers (forthcoming 2006) will outline two fundamentally different development models pursued in east Asia and question whether China's present development trajectory is uncomfortably like that followed previously in south-east Asia and threatens to lead to its own financial system breakdown.
Will Hutton, Chief Executive Officer of The Work Foundation and Governor of the London School of Economics will ask the question 'Does the rise of China spell the decline of the west?'
Peter Nightingale, Chief Executive of the China Britain Business Council will discuss doing business with China and its impact on globalisation, exploring how China's transformation will impact on the global economy and examining how UK business matches up to the China challenge.
Susan V. Lawrence, former Washington Correspondent and former China Bureau Chief, Far Eastern Economic Review will look at the view from Washington, exploring the yawning gap between the way that the US and some of its European neighbours view their interests in Asia.
Kenji Hiramatsu, Minister of the Embassy and Consul General of Japan will consider Japan's place in the 21st century, its relations with its neighbouring countries and its role on the global stage.
The conference, entitled New Asia, New Europe will be held on Friday 23 September at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel and is open to academics, members of the local business community and anyone else with an interest in East Asia.
To make a booking, please contact Amy.Durbin@bristol.ac.uk or Emma.Holland@bristol.ac.uk, telephone: 0117 954 5577 or download a booking form from our website.
The conference is supported by UK Trade & Investment.