This is a special 45 minute CCTV television programme broadcast on April 8th of the debate earlier that day at the Boao Forum in Hainan on China’s Reform Agenda. It features Justin Lin, until recently chief economist of the World Bank, Fan Gang, president of China’s National Economic Research Institute, Charlene Barshefsky, former US Trade Representative, and Martin Jacques.
by Martin Jacques
March 2013 – Transatlantic Academy
China has the world’s second largest economy. As it overtakes the United States in the relatively near future, and becomes the world’s largest economy, China will exercise a growing global influence. Meanwhile, the West — the home of Western liberal democracy — is in relative economic decline. By 2030, it will, by one estimate, account for only 28 percent of global GDP, compared with 33 percent for China and 67 percent for the developing world. In such circumstances, the West’s political influence is bound to decline. China is not a product of Western democracy and shows very little sign of moving in that direction.
26/03/13 – Wenhui Daily
Wenhui Forum – Featuring Special Lecture by Martin Jacques on ‘The United States as Number Two’. Click to view full-size
by Martin Jacques
13/03/13 – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
There’s a widespread view in the West that China’s great weakness is its system of governance. Above all, the absence of a Western-style democracy is seen as depriving government of legitimacy. It’s certainly true that China lacks a Western-style democracy, but does that mean its government is shorn of legitimacy? According to Pew polls and other similar evidence, the Chinese government enjoys satisfaction ratings that are rather superior to those of their Western counterparts.
One reason, of course, is China’s extraordinary economic performance. For more than three decades, the economy has grown about 10 per cent a year, matched by a not dissimilar rise in living standards. There’s a deeper reason, though. The Chinese view government in a very different way from the West. In the latter, government is seen in a utilitarian context, of what it can deliver for the voter. In the Chinese tradition, government is regarded as an extension of the family; indeed, government was modelled on the family. Far from being perceived as a somewhat remote agency, the state is regarded as the head of the Chinese family.
Speaking at a TED Salon in London, Martin Jacques asks: How do we in the West make sense of China and its phenomenal rise? This hugely successful TED talk has over one million views.
Recent Western commentary on the Chinese economy has been decidedly negative, emphasising the problems and downbeat about the prospects. This, of course, is hardly new: indeed it is absolutely par for the course. In fact, as the figures below show, the Chinese economy has done extraordinarily well in the five years since 2008 and the Western financial crisis. The contrast with the performance of Western economies over the same period is sobering to say the least.
During his tour of India last July, Martin Jacques recorded this half-hour TV interview for the Indian public-service broadcaster DD National (Doordarshan National). It is particularly notable for the way in which the interviewer skilfully weaves together the personal and political.
Martin Jacques presents a highly successful series of programmes on how best to understand the unique characteristics and apparent mysteries of contemporary China, its development and its possible future. In this new series, he sets out the building blocks for making sense of China today.
19/10/12 - BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
26/10/12 – BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
19/10/12 - BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
12/10/12 - BBC News Magazine and Radio 4
22/11/12 – ABS-CBN
The Philippines has come into sharp conflict with the Chinese government over the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea (now described by the Philippines government as the West Philippines Sea). In this interview for one of the top-ranking programmes on Philippines TV, presented by Karen Davila, Martin Jacques argues that the Philippines must prioritise its relationship with China over its relationship with the United States.
29/11/12 – ABS-CBN
Subsequently Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario made this response to Jacques’ criticisms of the way that the Philippines government has handled its relations with China.
Hainan, China
Speaker in Session on ‘China’s Reform Agenda’ together with Justin Lin Yifu, Fan Gang, Charlene Barshefsky and others
Televised by CCTV Dialogue and broadast on 8th April
Talks at Ashridge Business School
Hertfordshire, England
10am and 2pm: Two talks on what the rise of China means
Private Event
Special University Lecture: Australia in a China-Centric World
Brisbane, Australia
University of Queensland
Melbourne, Australia
Grand Hyatt Melbourne. Speakers include the Australian prime minister Julia Gillard.
Keynote speech: 22 April, 3.10-4.15pm: Martin Jacques, How China Will Change Almost Everything
Lausanne, Switzerland
Keynote speakers include Francis Fukuyama, Martin Jacques, Niclas Sundström
24/04/13 — Beveridge Hall, Senate House, London University
October 2006
October 2006
09/11/12 - Trouw