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Keyu Jin
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This week, Project Syndicate catches up with Keyu Jin, an economics professor at the London School of Economics and a World Economic Forum young global leader.
Project Syndicate: US President Donald Trump has touted the new “phase one” trade deal with China – which leaves many of the biggest issues unresolved – as a triumph for the United States, and his supporters seem convinced. How is the deal, which includes the Trump administration’s repeal of its designation of China as a “currency manipulator,” being viewed in China, and what are its implications for the broader bilateral relationship?
Keyu Jin: Getting China to buy more American goods is the easy part. Getting it to strengthen intellectual-property protections and open up its financial sector will help the Chinese economy in the long run. So, despite what Trump believes, the deal is no defeat for China.
In fact, the deal is not much of an achievement for either side, since it fails to address the thorniest issues, such as Chinese industrial subsidies and Trump’s attacks on Huawei, the Chinese telecoms giant. But making Trump feel that he has scored a victory could be a strategic choice, as it could help to ease tensions between the two countries, thereby creating space for them to address tougher issues.
Jin recommends
We ask all our Say More contributors to tell our readers about a few books that have impressed them recently. Here are Jin's picks:
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The Collected Stories
by Alexander Pushkin
Imaginative, beautiful, creative, and touching, these stories invite readers to escape the routines of their daily lives to enter an entirely different reality. Together, they remind us of life’s many amusing eccentricities and underscore the importance of looking at them from time to time through a new lens.
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India after Gandhi The History of the World’s Largest Democracy
by Ramachandra Guha
An Indian historian with a global perspective, Guha offers a sharply written account of contemporary India within the context of its tumultuous past. By combining cultural, political, economic, and social perspectives, Guha paints a detailed and realistic picture of a rich and highly complex country.
From the PS Archive
From 2014
Jin attributes China's economic woes to the perpetuation of a skewed growth model. Read the commentary.
From 2016
Jin argues that Xi Jinping is no Mao Zedong, and his anti-corruption campaign is just an anti-corruption campaign. Read the commentary.
Around the web
At a WIRED Smarter conference, Jin explains what the world can learn from Chinese innovation. Watch the talk.
In a TEDx talk, Jin uncovers the complex psychology of China's one-child generation, who will be leading the country within a decade. Watch the video.