Yukon Huang is a senior fellow with the Asia Program. He was formerly the World Bank’s country director for China and earlier director for Russia and the Former Soviet Union Republics. He is an adviser to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and various governments and corporations. His research focuses on China’s economy and its regional and global impact.
Huang has published widely on development issues in both professional journals and the public media. His articles have appeared frequently in the Financial Times, South China Morning Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Bloomberg, Foreign Affairs, and the National Interest. His books include East Asia Visions, Reshaping Economic Geography in East Asia, and International Migration and Development in East Asia and the Pacific. His most recent book, Cracking the China Conundrum: Why Conventional Economic Wisdom Is Wrong (Oxford University Press) focuses on U.S.-China Economic and Technology tensions.
He has a PhD in economics from Princeton University and a BA from Yale University.
In order to explore the complexities of our rapidly changing world, the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center will examine pressing global issues through four engaging panel discussions in a one-day event, under the collective title, “The World in Focus: Uncertainty and the Global Outlook for 2024.”
Despite the summit’s modest expectations, Carnegie fellows saw welcomed outcomes on economic, military, and AI issues.
China is mired in an economic slowdown that threatens its impressive achievements over the past four decades.
Washington can’t decouple from China without Europe’s help, while China hopes to soften Europe’s stance and has focused its diplomacy there. This has put Brussels in a pivotal position.
China’s economic malaise is a consequence of deep structural weaknesses rather than cyclical factors. While Beijing’s shedding of its draconian Covid-19 policies late last year generated a burst of enthusiasm about reviving growth based on pent-up consumption, these sentiments were short-lived.
For the West, concerns about dependency are often cast in terms of China’s dominance in producing critical goods such as pharmaceuticals or the lithium essential in most batteries.
China’s leadership has managed well in adjusting to the trade and technology restrictions imposed by successive U.S. administrations.
With relations at an all-time low, punitive actions targeting China have become politically popular, even if they have no analytical basis.
But China needs a properly functioning global economic system to prosper given that it is the major trading partner with more than 100 countries. Constructive engagement with China on economic issues offers a path to a less contentious dialogue on the more sensitive security issues for Western powers.
The Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center will be holding its sixth annual conference on December 7–8, 2022, covering global political and economic issues, the main purpose of which is to anticipate what will happen in 2023.
