On June 1, 2019, the China Finance 40 Forum (CF40) and Nomura Research Institute (NRI) jointly held the 2019 CF40-NRI Finance Roundtable in Beijing, with a theme of "China and Japan's Economic Development Experiences". This is the ninth year the two institutions organized the roundtable which served as a platform for candid and efficient discussion on key economic issues facing the two countries and the global economy.
The first session of the roundtable revolved around Trade Conflicts and Economic Development of China and Japan. Prof. Yu Yongding, CF40 advisor and Academician of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, delivered a keynote speech on the prospects of Sino-US trade conflict. Yu was followed by Mr. Tadao Yanase, former Vice-Minister for International Affairs at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry. His speech was titled Lessons from Japan-US trade friction. The third speaker was Prof. Tetsuji Okazaki of University of Tokyo who discussed Japan's industrial restructuring in the 1970s and 1980s.
The second session featured two challenging issues faced by both countries, i.e. population aging and low birth rates. Mr. Masaaki Shirakawa, former Governor of the Bank of Japan, delivered a speech titled Revitalize Economy against an Aging Population: Japan's Experience and Its Implications for China. The second speaker was Mr. Cai Fang, Vice President of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences who compared manufacturing's declining share of GDP in China and other countries, concluding that the decline took place too early for China.
More than 100 CF40 experts from the Japanese Embassy, the Bank of Japan and Japan's leading financial institutions attended the seminar. CF40 General-Secretary Mr. Wang Haiming moderated the discussion.
