A new platform for discussion and collaboration between leading China watchers has been launched by the China Foresight project at LSE IDEAS.
Through a series of publications and public events, the China Foresight Forum aims to contribute to public discussion on China and aid the creation of informed UK foreign policy on China.
With the coronavirus pandemic bringing the world’s relationship with China into the public eye, the platform will provide a nuanced examination of China’s international relations and challenge conventional ideas on China’s role in the world.
The Forum’s first Strategic Update was published this week, with George Magnus investigating what globalisation means to Chinese leadership and what the implications are for the rest of the world. Future publications and dialogues will explore China’s changing relationship with the US, international co-operation, and how China will react to the changed post-COVID world.
The Forum’s events will react to specific timely topics. Members of the public will have an opportunity to engage with Forum members and ask questions on issues currently in the public eye, such as China’s relationship with Hong Kong.
Commenting on the new Forum, LSE IDEAS Director Michael Cox said: "As the leading university affiliated think tank in the world, LSE IDEAS has for many years been actively involved in analysing China. As the wider discussion in the West about China becomes increasingly polarised, there has never been greater need for a forum where this vast country can be debated in an informed and balanced fashion by experts with a real understanding of one of the most complex - and increasingly influential - systems in the world.
“At this critical moment in history, China is simply too important to be left to those whose starting point either seems to be that China can do no wrong or has become the primary source of all the world's troubles. In an age of a pandemic we need to generate much less heat and far more light when it comes to discussing a country whose actions at home and abroad will increasingly impact on us all as we move ever deeper into the 21st century".
To find out more about the Forum visit: http://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/projects/china-foresight
To read the first publication, please visit: http://www.lse.ac.uk/ideas/publications/updates/china-in-one-country
To watch the Forum’s launch event, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbRc2SEt1qI