Talk on Chinese Capitalism

The Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) organised a talk titled “New Chinese Capitalism and the ASEAN Economic Community” at Sungai Long Campus on 17 April 2018.

Invited to deliver the talk was Chair of the School of Social Sciences Prof Dr Liu Hong. He is also the Director of Nanyang Centre for Public Administration at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and Tan Kak Kee Endowed Professor of History and Asian Studies.

Prof Liu

In his speech, he talked about the rise of emerging Chinese businesses in association with the increasing presence of China and its impacts on the political economy of the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN). He stated that the rise of China and the growing clout of its Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) has lent itself to a new phenomenon of what can be considered as a wave of “new Chinese capitalism”, which increasingly blurs the boundaries between private, economic interest and public.

He also explained the key characteristics of new Chinese capitalism by presenting the case studies of three countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia and China. He mentioned that the role of Chinese capitalism is new in comparison with the existing Chinese capital that has been characterised by traditional economic sectors, close linkages with the local political elite and intra-diaspora network. He also gave an explanation on how the new Chinese capitalism, as an external force, interacts with the burgeoning regionalism of the ASEAN and its attempts at community building. He pointed out that the Chinese tech companies are drawing closer to Southeast Asia. This is because companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and Xiaomi are carving out broad brand recognition and legitimacy not only domestically, but internationally.

The talk led to an interactive Q&A session, followed by a photography session before the event ended.  

The participants during Q&A session

Prof Liu (third from right) with the participants