THE 2014 WELLINGTON CONFERENCE ON CONTEMPORARY CHINA CHINA AT THE CROSSROADS – WHAT THE THIRD PLENUM MEANS FOR CHINA, NEW ZEALAND AND THE WORLD

2nd July, 2014, Hunter Council Chamber, Victoria University of Wellington China is at the crossroads.

In November 2013 the Communist Party of China held the third full or plenary session of its current central committee, and agreed on a wide-ranging set of policy changes. This Third Plenum has been heralded in China as one of the most critical junctures of national policy-making since China’s reforms began in 1978. Chinese commentators have emphasised the fact that the 2013 Third Plenum represents a turning point in Chinese policy-making, with its unprecedented emphasis on the ‘decisive’ role of the market and a new, less intrusive role for government. But some are asking whether the Plenum has gone far enough. Will its decisions truly enable China to overcome the many economic, financial and social difficulties it now faces, and take it to the point where it is an advanced economy and a leading world power? Or will China find the next phase of its development hard to carry out? Either way, what are the Plenum’s implications for New Zealand and its rapidly expanding trade, investment and cooperation with China?

To analyse the Plenum and its policy impact, the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre is bringing together one of the most outstanding groups of specialists on contemporary China ever to gather at a China-related conference in New Zealand. The one-day conference, to be held on 2 July 2014 in the Hunter Building of Victoria University of Wellington, will be essential for anyone with an interest in China’s burgeoning growth and its impact on New Zealand today. Speakers: Hon Tim Groser, Minister of Trade, will give the opening speech. There will also be a speech by Hon Phil Goff, Labour Party Spokesperson for Trade and Defence. Principal speakers will otherwise include:

• Professor David Shambaugh (keynote speaker), George Washington University, Washington DC, an internationally acclaimed commentator on contemporary China.

• Professor Kerry Brown, head of the dynamic China Centre at the University of Sydney and a widely-praised writer on contemporary Chinese politics and society.

• Dr Liu Li-Gang, Chief Economist Greater China for ANZ Bank.

• Professor Cai Fang, one of China’s best known economists and an institute director at CASS (The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing).

• Professor Christine Wong, a respected economist and former professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford, now head of the China Centre at the University of Melbourne.

• Professor Jonathan Unger, the renowned co-founder of the China Journal and founding director of the Contemporary China Centre at the Australian National University (ANU).

• Professor Anita Chan,  Professor at the China Research Centre at University of Technology, Sydney.

• Professor Ligang Song, a respected specialist and head of the China economy programme at the ANU.

• Professor ZHAI Kun, Director of one of the principal institutes at CICIR, China’s leading think tank on international affairs.

Click Here to register for the conference. For more information contact Lai Ching Tan at 04 4639549 or email laiching.tan@vuw.ac.nz.