Opening panel: The Chinese economy in a world of disorder

Seeking new momentum: the Chinese economy in a world of disorder.

Despite the chaos and uncertainty stemming from the trade war, China’s economy has so far demonstrated remarkable resilience. While domestic consumption and investment remain subdued, the export sector has delivered robust performance, keeping the overall economy on track to meet the government’s economic annual growth target. Moreover, significant AI breakthroughs by DeepSeek and other technology firms have helped restore market enthusiasm – severely undermined by the dual crises in the property and technology sectors in 2021 and largely muted ever since. Yet substantial uncertainty still looms over the world’s second-largest economy.

What will emerge as the new drivers of growth? Which firms and industries can survive—and even thrive—in a market increasingly burdened by overcapacity and cutthroat competition? How will China’s economic growth model adapt to the rapidly and radically changing world (dis)order? What implications will China’s economic trends and outlook have for its trade and business partners?

For our China Week 2025 opening panel, we’re joined by experts Alicia García Herrero (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Markus Herrmann Chen (China Macro Group) and George Magnus (Oxford University’s China Centre & SOAS) chaired by the Lau China Institute’s Xin Sun.

Join us in-person or online on Monday 20 October, 1pm. Registration is required.

If you would like to join us online, please register using this link.

NB This is a free event, which means we overbook to allow for no-shows and avoid empty seats. While we generally do not have to turn people away, this does mean we cannot guarantee all ticket holders a place. Admission is on a first come, first served basis. Those without tickets will not be admitted.

About the speakers

Alicia García Herrero is Adjunct Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at Natixis CIB. She is also an independent Board Member of AGEAS insurance group. Alicia serves as Senior Fellow at the European think-tank BRUEGEL and as a non-resident Senior Follow at the East Asian Institute (EAI) of the National University Singapore (NUS). Finally, Alicia is an advisor to the Spanish government on economic affairs, a Member of the Board of the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI), a member of the Advisory Board of the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), an advisor to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s research arm (HKIMR) and a Member of the Council of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation (FUF).

Markus Herrmann Chen (陈瑞华) is Co-Founder and Managing Director of China Macro Group. He is a cross-cultural China analyst, consultant and mediator, primarily engaged in the Europe-China context advising corporate and investment sectors holistically on key management issues including strategy, partnerships, localization, negotiations, resilience and governmental affairs, against the backdrop of evolving market, policy and geoeconomic factors shaping the Chinese market. Prior to CMG, Markus worked as Government Affairs Director with Bayer Material Science in China and as Management Consultant with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in its Shanghai, Hong Kong and Zurich offices. Moreover, he is a Strategic Advisor Europe to Caixin Global, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network and engaged in the Advisory Board of CEIBS Zurich (Europe). Markus holds law degrees with specialization in public policy, as well as public-, international- and WTO-law from the Universities of Geneva and Berne.

George Magnus is an independent economist and commentator, and Research Associate at the China Centre, Oxford University, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and a Member of the China Foresight Forum at LSE IDEAS. He is an advisory board member of the China Observatory, a non-partisan initiative at the Council on Geostrategy. George was the Chief Economist, and then Senior Economic Adviser at UBS from 1995-2016. He had previously worked as the Chief Economist at SG Warburg (1987-1995), and before that in a senior capacity at Laurie Milbank/Chase Securities and at Bank of America in London and San Francisco. George writes and is cited regularly in media outlets such as the Financial Times, Times, the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, The Spectator, Bloomberg, the South China Morning Post, and The Wire China and is a contributor to UK and international TV and radio programmes.

Xin Sun (Chair) is Senior Lecturer in Chinese and East Asian Business at the Lau China Institute, King’s College London. He is an expert in political economy, economic policies and government-business relations in China. His work focuses on the interplay between China’s formal and informal institutions and how these types of institution jointly shape economic and policy outcomes as well as business behaviours. He is currently researching land politics and the housing market in China, looking at how informal political practices affect property rights institutions and land use and regulatory behaviours.

Please contact lauchina@kcl.ac.uk if you have any questions or specific participatory requirements.