Page 48 - 2023 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
P. 48
3 White Paper on the Business Environment in China
The adverse effects of the investigations were 400 million people in China are expected to be
observed across many institutions of higher over 60, nearly a third of its population. That will
education and were particularly salient for have major implications for the global economy;
scientists of Asian heritage, fields that receive the country has been the engine of world growth
more funding from the NIH, and fields with a for decades. That being said, the problem is not
higher concentration of US-China collaborations. limited to China. Many developed countries are
In fields more affected by the NIH investigations, aging, and toward the middle of this century,
the US and China both produced fewer deaths will start to exceed births worldwide. The
publications during 2019 and 2020 compared shift is already starting to transform societies. In
to the rest of the world, suggesting that US- East Asia, people are working well into their 70s,
China political tensions affect overall scientific and in France, an effort to raise the retirement age
progress. Interviews with scientists suggest that from 62 to 64 is expected to expose older workers
a reluctance to start or continue collaborations to hiring discrimination (Nierenberg).
with China partners and the resulting loss
in research talent and access to labs and Possible Olive Branch
equipment may drive long term declines in
publication quantity and quality since it takes China has extended the olive branch to Western
time for the reduction of new joint projects to democracies and global capitalists alike, promising
appear in the data. As such, the negative effects a new era of detente after the coercive “wolf
of US-China political tensions on US science, as warrior” diplomacy of the last five years. Vice-
well as scientific progress worldwide, may prove premier Liu He, the economic plenipotentiary of
even greater in the long run (Jia, et al.). Xi Jinping’s China, told a gathering of business
leaders and ministers in Davos that China is
China’s Shrinking Population back inside the tent and eager to restore the
money-making bonhomie of the golden years.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, “We must let the market play the fundamental
Switzerland, China sought to reassure the world role in the allocation of resources, and let the
that its economy was back on track. A delegation government play a better role. Some people say
told world leaders that business could return to China will go for the planned economy. That’s by
normal now that the country has relaxed its “zero no means possible,” he said. “All-round opening-
Covid” policy. But China’s projected resilience up is the basis of state policy and the key driver
does not align with two major revelations about of economic progress. China’s national reality
its long-term health and stability. China revealed dictates that opening up to the world is a must,
that its economy had just had one of its worst not an expediency. We must open up wider and
performances since 1976, the year Mao Zedong make it work better,” he told the World Economic
died. Its economy grew by just 3%, far short of its Forum. The choice of Liu He as messenger of
5.5% target. Perhaps more consequential, China conciliation is lost on nobody. Both an economic
also revealed that its population had shrunk modernizer and a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy
last year for the first time since the Great Leap School of Government, his charm offensive in
Forward. In the population data, experts see Davos hits two global constituencies at the same
major implications for China, its economy and the time. It is a subtle way of telling the world Xi’s
world. Births in China have fallen for years, and third term is going to be a giant pivot back to
officials have fought to reverse the trend. They international harmony. Vice-premier Liu He’s
have loosened the one-child policy and offered conciliatory pitch is also a signal that China will
incentives to encourage families to have children. return to its longstanding position as a stakeholder
Those policies did not work. Now, some experts of the existing Davosian global order rather than
think the decline may be irreversible. A shrinking a revisionist power determined to overthrow it.
Chinese population means that the country will “We need to uphold an effective international
face labor shortages in the absence of enough economic order. We have to abandon the cold war
people of working age to fuel its growth. By 2035, mentality,” he said, pledging a push for “economic
48
The adverse effects of the investigations were 400 million people in China are expected to be
observed across many institutions of higher over 60, nearly a third of its population. That will
education and were particularly salient for have major implications for the global economy;
scientists of Asian heritage, fields that receive the country has been the engine of world growth
more funding from the NIH, and fields with a for decades. That being said, the problem is not
higher concentration of US-China collaborations. limited to China. Many developed countries are
In fields more affected by the NIH investigations, aging, and toward the middle of this century,
the US and China both produced fewer deaths will start to exceed births worldwide. The
publications during 2019 and 2020 compared shift is already starting to transform societies. In
to the rest of the world, suggesting that US- East Asia, people are working well into their 70s,
China political tensions affect overall scientific and in France, an effort to raise the retirement age
progress. Interviews with scientists suggest that from 62 to 64 is expected to expose older workers
a reluctance to start or continue collaborations to hiring discrimination (Nierenberg).
with China partners and the resulting loss
in research talent and access to labs and Possible Olive Branch
equipment may drive long term declines in
publication quantity and quality since it takes China has extended the olive branch to Western
time for the reduction of new joint projects to democracies and global capitalists alike, promising
appear in the data. As such, the negative effects a new era of detente after the coercive “wolf
of US-China political tensions on US science, as warrior” diplomacy of the last five years. Vice-
well as scientific progress worldwide, may prove premier Liu He, the economic plenipotentiary of
even greater in the long run (Jia, et al.). Xi Jinping’s China, told a gathering of business
leaders and ministers in Davos that China is
China’s Shrinking Population back inside the tent and eager to restore the
money-making bonhomie of the golden years.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, “We must let the market play the fundamental
Switzerland, China sought to reassure the world role in the allocation of resources, and let the
that its economy was back on track. A delegation government play a better role. Some people say
told world leaders that business could return to China will go for the planned economy. That’s by
normal now that the country has relaxed its “zero no means possible,” he said. “All-round opening-
Covid” policy. But China’s projected resilience up is the basis of state policy and the key driver
does not align with two major revelations about of economic progress. China’s national reality
its long-term health and stability. China revealed dictates that opening up to the world is a must,
that its economy had just had one of its worst not an expediency. We must open up wider and
performances since 1976, the year Mao Zedong make it work better,” he told the World Economic
died. Its economy grew by just 3%, far short of its Forum. The choice of Liu He as messenger of
5.5% target. Perhaps more consequential, China conciliation is lost on nobody. Both an economic
also revealed that its population had shrunk modernizer and a graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy
last year for the first time since the Great Leap School of Government, his charm offensive in
Forward. In the population data, experts see Davos hits two global constituencies at the same
major implications for China, its economy and the time. It is a subtle way of telling the world Xi’s
world. Births in China have fallen for years, and third term is going to be a giant pivot back to
officials have fought to reverse the trend. They international harmony. Vice-premier Liu He’s
have loosened the one-child policy and offered conciliatory pitch is also a signal that China will
incentives to encourage families to have children. return to its longstanding position as a stakeholder
Those policies did not work. Now, some experts of the existing Davosian global order rather than
think the decline may be irreversible. A shrinking a revisionist power determined to overthrow it.
Chinese population means that the country will “We need to uphold an effective international
face labor shortages in the absence of enough economic order. We have to abandon the cold war
people of working age to fuel its growth. By 2035, mentality,” he said, pledging a push for “economic
48
