Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Experts say that greenhouse-gas trading designed under the Kyoto Protocol was an important first step in reducing emissions increasingly linked to climate change. William Chandler, a senior policy analyst for energy and climate, says trading programs have achieved mixed results. Chandler argues that the United Nations should rethink how it implements its trading program to make it more effective.
The Chinese government must move quickly and dramatically to increase interest rates to reduce the risk of an inflation crisis, says a new policy brief from the Carnegie Endowment. Albert Keidel, an expert on China’s economy, urges the Chinese government to avoid the danger of harsh corrective steps which in the past caused severe declines in GDP growth, fueled deadly urban civil unrest throughout the country, and brought long-lasting damage to China’s international reputation.
The current bill on China's exchange rate that is working its way around Capitol Hill will do nothing to help the U.S. trade deficit or U.S. jobs. It will instead encourage speculators to buy into Wall Street China schemes.
Despite becoming more transparent in recent years, Beijing's first instinct, when presented with crises, is to slam the door. And as long as it does so, it will never truly enjoy the world's confidence.
If foreign consumers — and their governments — believe that Chinese products are unfit for consumption and the Chinese government is not taking effective measures, they will curtail Chinese imports significantly. The “Made in China” label, now synonymous with low prices, could quickly lose its consumer appeal.
Across Asia, in fact, the financial crisis, which started a decade ago this month with the collapse of Thailand's currency, seems like a long time ago. Asia has once again resumed its longtime role as tiger of the global economy; the Asian Development Bank projects that East Asia will grow by 8 percent this year. In five of the nations hit hardest by the crisis, average incomes now equal or top 1997 levels, and all of the major Asian countries sit upon significant piles of currency reserves, determined to prevent a repeat of 1997, when the Thai treasury essentially ran bare. Asia has begun developing its own financial architecture, including a free trade agreement between China and ten Southeast Asian nations, and a series of currency swaps that might set the stage for a region-wide version of the International Monetary Fund.
Over the last five years, China has laid the groundwork to become an international power. It has done so not only with high-level diplomacy but also through the tools of soft power: aid, investment, culture and skilled diplomacy. This charm offensive has proved remarkably successful. But as some countries try to model China's success, it may backfire.
This talk included Bernard Chan and Stephen Cheung with Carnegie Endowment’s Vice President for Studies, Mark Medish, as moderator. C.Y. Leung joined for the Q&A period.
China’s soft power policy is fueled by pragmatism. Ideology has a very limited role.
The causes and consequences of the economic and cultural integration of East Asia.