Semafor launches ‘China and Global Business’ platform

As geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China escalate, the space for conversation and cooperation on global issues is narrowing. Semafor’s ambitious new initiative “China and Global Business” will create a new platform — events in Beijing and New York, and coverage across our digital channels — for global business leaders seeking a way forward amid growing calls in the U.S. for economic “decoupling” from China, and China’s parallel pursuit of economic “self-reliance.”

On the agenda: how can the world’s two largest economies rebuild trust? How do companies and CEOs from the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, caught in the middle of this Great Power rivalry, navigate this complex world order? And as trans-Pacific business ties fray, where are the new corridors of growth and opportunity? And in a world of, at best, intense and sometimes bitter competition, where are the opportunities for cooperation on issues like climate change?

The contradiction at the heart of the U.S.-China relationship is one of the biggest stories in the world. Geopolitical forces are pulling the two countries apart. But their bilateral trade is just now hitting new record highs. The coming years will determine whether the world’s two largest economies, which are deeply enmeshed, can find ways to manage their differences; or whether the economy is simply another front for an escalating conflict.

National politics in many western countries is entering a cycle of politicians competing to be the most hawkish voice. But the role of journalism is to explore the complex reality of a situation without clear historical precedent. This moment has little in common with Cold War analogies — except, perhaps, for how high the stakes are. That’s why these gatherings and the journalism that emerges from them are so important. We’re offering our global news platform for an open discussion — as we have with the Semafor World Economy Summit and Semafor Africa Week — based on our values of transparency, journalistic independence, and openness to multiple perspectives.

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The inaugural “China & Global Business” flagship event will take place in Beijing on October 17-19, 2023, preceded by an initial convening this June 2023 in NYC.

“China & Global Business” will embrace a diversity of opinion throughout its year-long program and will be guided by a Chinese and global advisory board composed of key actors from the worlds of business, diplomacy, academia, and the media who will work together to identify areas of common interest to guide our main stage deliberations and ongoing discourse.

They include:

• Jessica Chen Weiss, Professor of Government, Cornell University
• Deborah Lehr, CEO of Edelman Global Advisory
• Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, Oxford University
• David Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group
• Justin B. Smith, Co-Founder and CEO, Semafor
• John Thornton, Executive Chairman of Barrick Gold and Chairman of PineBridge Investments
• Susan Thornton, Senior Fellow and Visiting Lecturer of Law at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center
• Jerry Yang, co-founder, Yahoo! Inc and Founding Partner at AME Cloud Ventures

• Gao Yunlong, Chairman of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce
• Zhou Xiaochuan, Vice Chairman of and China’s Chief Representative to the Boao Forum for Asia
• Chen Deming, Former Minister of Commerce
• Wu Hailong, President of the China Public Diplomacy Association
• Cui Tiankai, Former Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. and to Japan
• Xue Lan, Dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University
• Wang Huiyao, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG)
• Cao Dewang, Chairman of Fuyao Group
• Zhang Yichen, Chairman and CEO of CITIC Capital Holdings Limited
• Zeng Yuqun, Chairman of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited

Learn more about China and Global Business here: https://events.semafor.com/chinaandglobalbusiness