On October 25th, SPPM had the great pleasure of hosting Prof. Zhang Jianping, director of the National Development and Reform Commission’s Institute of International Economic Cooperation. The occasion was the SPPM/IR Debating Society’s first roundtable of the semester. Prof. Zhou Yuan, who serves as faculty advisor to the Debating Society, acted as host and moderator for this event.
The topic tackled by Prof. Zhang was “The Global Economic Outlook and China’s Outward Investment”. Throughout his 15 minute presentation, he eloquently addressed many of the issues surrounding the current financial crisis, and China’s role in it. Following his presentation, he took the chance to briefly introduce the NDRC.
This successful roundtable got the semester started off on the right foot for the Debating Society. Founded in December 2011, the Debating Society has since held roundtables with both Chinese and foreign academics and professionals on a number of the world’s pressing issues. The roundtables have served as preludes to formal debates held among the students of SPPM and the Department of International Relations.
(From Stephan Mothe, MID 2011)
