Obama-Xi meeting: missing the Chinese dream - Michael Justin Lee

Michael Justin Lee

Very few concrete steps have emerged from the Barack Obama-Xi Jinping meeting in California, but the economy was very absent from their empty agenda, notes finance lecturer Michael Justin Lee in the ChinaUSFocus. He hoped Xi would have used the opportunity to discuss his "Chinese dream", and pleads for more income disparity.

Michael Justin Lee:

I, for one, would have been very interested to know how President Xi intends to pursue his vision. After all, as they say, God or the Devil (I’ve heard it both ways) is in the details. I obviously don’t know how President Obama might have addressed the subject but if President Xi were to ask me, and I’d be quite happy to take his call if he did, I would advise him to tread quite gingerly. 

Much was made about the release of China’s latest Gini coefficient earlier this year. The Gini coefficient, named after Italian mathematician Corrado Gini, measures the dispersion of a mass of income data from absolute sameness. Therefore, the higher the Gini, the greater that a country’s income varies from absolute equality. The Gini coefficient is not among the better known economic statistics, and its value for China had not been calculated for several years. And when a Gini statistic is ever released, it is inevitably accompanied by some requisite puns about a Gini out of the bottle or some other such thigh-slapper. (Google it up.) 

Anyway, the number released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics was not terribly different from the one most recently calculated for the United States. However, a mass of comments followed about how troubling this is. And from the perspective of the Communist ideal, I suppose it would be troubling. But China has been easing down the yellow brick capitalist road for a good few decades now. Let’s not kid ourselves about Communism. It’s not coming back in any functional form. Therefore, we must actually consider that Gini number from a more realistic perspective, the capitalist one, including the American example. 

Again, if President Xi were to ask me, I would ask him in return why he feels the Chinese and American levels of income inequality are necessarily bad? I emphasize “necessarily.” Although capitalism does not endorse income inequality per se, it is the sine qua non of capitalism that some people, by choice, luck or talent, will legally obtain more. Doesn’t capitalism permit and even promote the taking of entrepreneurial risks? Don’t some people have more appetite for risk taking than others? And doesn’t risk generally correlate with expected return? (Yes, yes and yes, if you’re having trouble.)

More in ChinaUsFocus.

Michael Justin Lee is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  


China Weekly Hangout
A discussion on the way the EU and the US are dealing (of fail to deal) with China, in the +China Weekly Hangout on June 6, with negotiation expert +Andrew Hupert from New York, Swiss lawyer +Nathan KAISER from Taipei and political analyst +Steve Barru from Denver, Colorado. Moderated by +Fons Tuinstra of the China Speakers Bureau.

The upcoming cyber war is the subject of the +China Weekly Hangout on Thursday 27 June. The revelations by Edward Snowden showed that the US is preparing a military shake-out, as both China, Russia and other countries are building up their cyber war capacities too. Joining us are former security consultant +Mathew Hoover and media en communication lecturer +Paul Fox  of the Hong Kong University. Moderation by +Fons Tuinstra  president of the China Speakers Bureau.

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The lagging financial literacy - Michael Justin Lee

Michael Justin Lee

US youngsters are lagging more in financial literacy than those in China, Michael Justin Lee,  Lecturer at the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Maryland discovered when he dived into a comparative study by VISA International. "A crappy return on investment," he writes in ChinaUSFocus.

Michael Justin Lee:

Visa’s overall conclusion about the United States notwithstanding, there was a very disturbing sub-conclusion. On the critical question of whether our college aged people are prepared to manage their own money, the US ranked an unbelievably abysmal twenty-seventh, ahead only of Bosnia! 

This is far more important than the fourth place overall finish. China’s middle of the pack ranking isn’t terrible considering the early state of their financial markets. But I shudder to think what awaits us in the future if our young people can’t do any better than second to last. 

How has it come to this? There couldn’t be any country which has dedicated greater public and private resources to developing financial literacy than the United States. This is what we in the financial profession call a crappy return on investment.

More in ChinaUSFocus.

Michael Justin Lee is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  

+China Weekly Hangout 

Is investing in education a gold mine or a black hole, the China Weekly Hangout wondered on February 7, with +Andrew Hupert, formerly working for the NYU Shanghai campus and +Paul Fox, lecturer at the HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education. Moderation: +Fons Tuinstra, president of the China Speakers Bureau.

On Thursday 30 May the China Weekly Hangout will turn to tourism and will ask "What do Chinese tourists want?". Participation from the UK, Singapore, Switzerland and New Zealand is already planned. You can read our latest announcement here, or register for participation here. A full overview of our hangout-channel is here.   

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Financial challenges for China and the US - Michael Justin Lee

Michael Justin lee

The world's financial systems are out of balances. Professor Michael Justin Lee discusses what both countries need to face the future, in terms of reforming their educational approach. "China has its technical basis, but needs to teach people how to become entrepreneurs."   

Michael Justin Lee is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

            

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Why China is not breaking up - Michael Justin Lee

Michael Justin Lee

The story - professor and author Michael Justin Lee calls it rightly a fallacy - of China imploding, keeps on making headlines. In ChinaUSFocus Michael Justin Lee argues this line of argument is false.

Michael Justin Lee:

Because from what I can see, there seems to be more than a degree of skepticism about China’s potential. In fact, whatever lies in store for China, I detect a lot of what Germans call “schadenfreude” – or taking pleasure from others misfortunes – about the problems China must face in the future. I frequently get emails helpfully explaining that I am truly remiss for failing to see that China must eventually implode because of its many challenges. 

On the rare occasion when I do respond, I gently inquire what it means for a country to implode. The sputtering answer I usually get is something about the country fracturing into warlord zones. This answer always makes me wonder if the person has been watching too many period piece kung fu movies. 

To be clear about the matter, there actually have been times in its long history when parts of China were ruled by warlords. But it’s almost insulting to suggest that modern China would fall to that again. Is it ever asked whether western civilization might devolve back into a society of knights, serfs and fiefdoms?

More in China USFocus.

Michael Justin Lee is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

On Thursday 24 January the China Weekly Hangout will focus on how the pollution affects the lives of people in China. Do you want to participate of follow the event? Do sign up at our event page or check in for the details.

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The potential for micro-finance for China and the US - Michael Justin Lee

Michael Justin Lee

Both the US and China should cooperate in setting up microfinance to use the massive pools over underutilized human capital, writes Michael Justin Lee in the China US Focus. 

Michael Justin Lee:

The potential for Sino-American cooperation in this area would be immense. Both countries have tremendous pools of underutilized human capital and, I suspect, tremendous pools of gray market capital as well. This joint research need not be limited to microfinance of course. Although I personally favor it, it would need to prove itself in actual practice. Does it work in the western Chinese provinces or in the Beijing migrant ghettos? Does it work in the American inner city or in the Mississippi delta? Neither I nor anyone else will actually know until it is attempted. 

There could be no failure in a good faith attempt. Success of course is in everyone’s interest but empirical evidence that microfinance is not efficacious has merit too. And unlike other joint endeavors, it requires neither vast amounts of capital nor extended periods of diplomatic hurdling. 

Most important, there would be no ideological hurdles to overcome. Like it or not, neither capitalism nor communism has adequately addressed the plight of the poorest of the poor so neither country can claim the moral high ground. This greatly increases the potential for effective joint research. 

I can imagine how in any other joint Sino-American endeavor, the issue of one country’s “superiority” might rear its head. But I see how that possibility would be greatly reduced by the inarguable need for successful cooperation at the human level. If researchers ever digressed from the path of evidentiary objectivity, they need only look into the eyes of the “subjects” to be jolted back to the reality of their work.

More in the China US Focus.

Michael Justin Lee is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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China is a partner, not a problem - Michael Justin Lee

Michael Justin Lee

After the inauguration of the US President and Vice-President the hearings for the major cabinet positions will start. In the process China should be seen as a partner not a problem, writes China specialist Michael Justin Lee in the Baltimore Sun. But he is sure that is unlikely going to happen. 

Michael Justin Lee:

To the cabinet nominees, I say this: China may have its problems, but a suicidal tendency is not one of them. Like any country, it acts in its own interests. This may sometimes put the Chinese at odds with other countries, but it does not mean they seek confrontation — especially not with the United States. And everyone in China over 20 can do a very quick before-and-after comparison of living conditions over the past two decades. It's no contest which period comes out ahead. I'm not aware of any culture in which not eating is preferable to eating. And the Chinese well know that the great American market has been substantially responsible for their current banquet. 

In turn, their market could be quite a banquet for us. Two little factoids might provide proper perspective about the size of Chinese markets. If little Wu and young Jiang would be particularly diligent in their foreign language studies, China could very quickly also have the largest English-speaking population in the world, too. Never heard that, did you? But even a quarter of a 1.4 billion population equals a whopping big number. Moreover, Christians (including Catholics) in China already outnumber Christians in Italy. Surprising? Sure. But a number like 1.4 billion can do things like that.

More in the Baltimore Sun.

Michael Justin Lee is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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