by Editor BGF | Mar 10, 2021 | Uncategorized
The Boston Global Forum is delighted to introduce the article on Tampa Bay Times of Professor John Quelch, Co-founder of the Boston Global Forum.
It is a time for action, but there is precious little room for loose rhetoric or error.
Delegates applaud as Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives for the opening session of China’s National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Friday. [ ANDY WONG | AP
Confident rhetoric was abundant at last week’s Chinese National People’s Congress.
The Chinese economy grew 2.3 percent in 2020 while the United States contracted. China is expected to grow 8.3 percent this year versus 4.1 percent for the United States. The Chinese economy has grown from 4 percent to almost 20 percent of world gross domestic product in the past 20 years and will be larger than the U.S. economy by the end of this decade.
China last week unveiled a massive increase in research and development spending to close the gap on the United States in multiple technologies from semiconductor chips to hydrogen energy. China also announced a 6.8 percent increase in military expenditures this year, more than expected. President Xi Jinping is promoting not communism but “modern socialism” to the leaders of the world’s emerging economies, promising command and control economic growth as a better political insurance policy than Western democracy. The United States is on its heels against an increasingly assertive China.
Former President Donald Trump was right to call out China but clumsy in his response. He rejected promising trade deals and promoted an ill-advised tariff war that, predictably, delivered few benefits to U.S. workers and boosted prices to U.S. consumers. Trump lost the goodwill of continental Europe by walking away from the Paris Climate Accord, criticizing contributions to NATO and disrespecting European leaders.
But all is far from lost. President Joe Biden should take six initiatives to put the United States back in the global driver’s seat:
Rediscover our allies: The road to Beijing passes through Brussels. With eight years of experience as vice president, Biden knows many of the key players in Europe and he is appointing experienced diplomats to reboot quickly our traditional European alliances. He has swiftly rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization. In Asia, Trump over-emphasized India and shortchanged Japan and Korea. We must swiftly mend fences and hammer out common positions with our allies in both regions to steadfastly oppose China’s human rights violations, military incursions and economic piracy.
Invest more in research: The United States still boasts 15 of the top 20 research universities in the world. We have a terrific research infrastructure. R&D expenditures need to increase to 3.5 percent, perhaps 4 percent of GDP. Let’s offer private companies enhanced tax incentives to invest in basic research. Let’s also reopen our borders to qualified scientists who seek to immigrate here.
Don’t decouple, diversify: With bilateral trade exceeding $700 billion per year and more than 100,000 cross-border investments between China and the United States, decoupling is not an option. But a reassessment of our supply chains to insure multiple overseas sources and domestic production of strategic goods, even if there is a cost penalty, is essential. Biden’s announced $2 trillion infrastructure program will boost technological innovation in 5G and beyond, create millions of good jobs and modernize the U.S. transportation, energy and telecommunications sectors.
Call out China: Through its $1 trillion belt and road initiative, China offers loans to emerging economies to build ports, roads and other infrastructure. But when the revenues promised in the contracts don’t materialize, Chinese banks take ownership. From Sri Lanka to Argentina, countries have forfeited important assets to this “debt trap diplomacy.” We must demonstrate to world leaders how easily Chinese foreign aid can lead to indentured servitude.
Promote our values: Pointing out China’s flaws is not enough. We and our allies must do a much better job of nurturing and promoting democracy, showing the world by example how freedom of expression and respect for diversity spawns more creativity and innovation, and how a regulated free market can generate greater and more equitably distributed prosperity than a command-and-control economy with one party rule. Only one in 12 Chinese citizens is a member of the Chinese Communist party — tens of millions of Chinese want more.
Communicate to cooperate: As competition between China and the United States intensifies, there is precious little room for loose rhetoric or error. A miscalculation in the South China Sea or in Taiwanese air space could trigger a skirmish or worse. We need to restore regular high-level dialogues with China and seek opportunities for cooperation on all issues from climate change to global public health simply because the fates of both our nations are mutually dependent.
The United States cannot take for granted its continued leadership of the world economy. Through our deeds and by example, we have to earn the respect of other nations every day. China demands a much more subtle and coordinated strategy than merely outspending on military hardware. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has wisely made it clear that our relationship with China must be multifaceted: “competitive when it should be, collaborative when it can be, and adversarial when it must be.”
John A. Quelch is dean of the University of Miami Patti and Allan Herbert Business School and dean emeritus at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, China.
by Editor BGF | Feb 18, 2021 | Uncategorized
9:00 EST/15:00 CET, 23:00 JST, February 19, 2021
Organizers: The Boston Global Forum and Michael Dukakis Institute
The Moderator
Douglas Frantz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, and former Deputy Secretary-General of the OECD. Frantz served as Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Obama administration. He was an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, and The New York Times. Frantz graduated from DePauw University and earned a M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
The Keynote Speaker
Governor Michael Dukakis
Chairman of The Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Co-Founder and Chairman of The Boston Global Forum
Co-founder of AIWS.net and the AIWS City
Co-Author of Social Contract for the AI Age
The three-term Governor of Massachusetts and the 1988 Democratic nominee for President of the United States, Distinguished Professor of Northeastern University and UCLA
Michael Stanley Dukakis culminates a half-century career dedicated to public service, political leadership, fostering the careers of young leaders, and scholarly achievement.
Together with Nguyen Anh Tuan, this former Massachusetts governor, has established The Boston Global Forum as a globally recognized think tank noted for developing peaceful solutions to some of the world’s most contentious issues.
Panelists:
Professor Nazli Choucri
Co-author of Social Contract for the AI Age
Member of Boston Global Forum’s Board of Thinkers
Board Member of Michael Dukakis Institute for Leadership and Innovation
Board of Leaders of AIWS City (AIWS.city)
Professor of Political Science of MIT
Nazli Choucri is Professor of Political Science of MIT. Her work is in the area of international relations, most notably on sources and consequences of international conflict and violence. Professor Choucri is the architect and Director of the Global System for Sustainable Development (GSSD), a multi-lingual web-based knowledge networking system focusing on the multi-dimensionality of sustainability. As Principal Investigator of an MIT-Harvard multi-year project on Explorations in Cyber International Relations, she directed a multi-disciplinary and multi-method research initiative. She is Editor of the MIT Press Series on Global Environmental Accord and, formerly, General Editor of the International Political Science Review. She also previously served as the Associate Director of MIT’s Technology and Development Program.
The author of eleven books and over 120 articles, Dr. Choucri is a member of the European Academy of Sciences. She has been involved in research or advisory work for national and international agencies, and for a number of countries, notably Algeria, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. She served two terms as President of the Scientific Advisory Committee of UNESCO’s Management of Social Transformation (MOST) Program.
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga
President of Latvia (1999-2007)
World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM) Member, Co-author of Social Contract for the AI Age, Board of Leaders of AIWS City
Vaira Vike-Freiberga played a significant role in achieving membership in the EU and NATO for her country and was Special Envoy on UN reform. Vice-chair of the Reflection group on the long-term future of Europe, and chair of the High-level group on freedom and pluralism of media in the EU in 2011-12. Member of two High-level groups on European security and defense in 2015, and of the High-level Team of Advisors to the UN ECOSOC on UN development in 2016. Co-chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center.
Dr. Vike-Freiberga is a member, board member or patron of 30 international organizations and five Academies; Honorary Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford University. She has published extensively and is much in demand as speaker. Recipient of many Awards, Orders of Merit and Honorary Doctorates.
Born in Riga, she started her schooling in refugee camps in Germany, then lived in Morocco and Canada, obtaining a Ph.D. at McGill University (1965). After a distinguished career as Professor of psychology and international scholar at the University of Montreal, she returned to her native country in 1998 to head the Latvian Institute. Less than a year later she was elected President by the Latvian Parliament and re-elected in 2003.
Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija
Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2001-2002)
World Leadership Alliance – Club de Madrid (WLA-CdM) Member
Co-author of Social Contract for the AI Age, Board of Leaders of AIWS City
Professor Dr. Zlatko Lagumdžija was Prime Minister, Acting Prime Minister, twice Deputy Prime Minister, twice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a Member of the Parliament and the leader of the largest multi-ethnic political party in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 2015. Member of Club de Madrid-The World Leadership Alliance and World Academy of Arts and Sciences. Founder of the Shared Societies and Values Foundation Sarajevo. Since 1989, Dr. Lagumdžija is professor of Management and Information Technologies at University of Sarajevo, and visiting professor of different universities in Europe, Asia and America. Member of numerous International Boards and Missions. Ambassador for Dialogue among Cultures and Civilizations of ISESCO.
State Minister Yasuhide Nakayama
State Minister of Defense, Japan
Mentor of AI World Society Innovation Network (AIWS.net)
Yasuhide Nakayama is a Japanese politician representing the Liberal Democratic Party, elected in December 2003 as a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and was re-elected in the December 2015 and 2017 elections. Mr Nakayama is the current State Minister for Defense in the Japanese cabinet.
Career
- Secretary to the Minister of Construction
- Advertising Agency Employee
- State Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs
- Director, Committee on Economy, Trade and Industry, HR
- Chief Director, Special Committee on North Korean Abduction and Other Issues, HR
- Director, Committee on Security, HR
- Director, Public Speeches Division, LDP
- Director-General, Information Bureau, LDP
- Chief Secretary, Research Commission on Security, LDP
Ms. Merve Hickok
Founder of AIethicist.org
Senior Researcher at Center for AI & Digital Policy
Co-author of “Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Values Report: AISCI-2020”
Merve is an independent consultant & trainer focused on capacity building in ethical and responsible AI and governance of AI systems. Merve is a founding editorial board member of Springer Nature AI & Ethics journal: one of 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics 2021; Fellow at ForHumanity Center; a regional lead for Women in AI Ethics Collective; and a member in a number of IEEE & IEC work groups that set global standards for autonomous systems.
