On April 9, 2018, chaired by the anchor Martin Soong from CNBC, the BFA sub-forum, Asian Economy: Systemic Risks & Structural Reform was successfully held, featuring Sanjaya Baru, Dai Xianglong, Fan Gang, Masaaki Shirakawa, and Zhang Yuyan, The panelists shared their opinions regarding the “trade war” between China and the U.S., and predicted the prospect of Asian economies against the backdrop of reinforced cooperation among Asian countries.

Sanjaya, Secretary General of FICCI, suggested that the trade conflict between China and the U.S. is not only an economic issue, but also involves political factors. He also addressed how Indian government had conducted the critical policy reform in 2017 and the possible challenges that India might be facing in the future.

Fan Gang, Director of National Economic Research Institute, held the opinion that as Asia becoming a community with strong economic dependence, the trade conflict between China and the U.S. would definitely affect Asia as a whole. Moreover, he claimed that Chinese government will tackle the country’s debt problems successfully, and China would continually stick to its open-up policy since it had brought about significant vitality to the national economy. 

Dai Xianglong, Former Governor of People’s Bank of China, indicated that Chinese economy is faced with both opportunities and challenges, and would keep leading the economic growth over the next 20 years. He also stressed the importance of structural reform in today’s China and believed that the laws of the market facilitates the Chinese economic transition from being speed-oriented to quality-oriented.

“It is known that the trade war between China and the U.S. would lead to loss at both sides”, said Zhang Yuyan, Director of Institute of World Economy and Politics, CASS, who believed that the both sides should settle the dispute through talks and negotiations. It was also emphasized that the Belt and the Road Initiative is a key aspect under Chinese national open-up policy.

Former Governor of Bank of Japan Masaaki Shirakawa shared his viewpoints regarding the Japanese economic bubbles emerging in the 1980s, since when the deflation becoming a tough economic problem for Japan. Shirakawa believed that the economic problems such as deflation should be addressed with more comprehensive solutions involving demographic data, production rate and other social factors.