5th St. Gallen Symposium Beijing Reception Programme China s One-Child Policy Implications on Society and Economy Embassy of Switzerland in China, Beijing, PRC Wednesday, 4 December 2013
5 th St. Gallen Symposium Beijing Reception WELCOME With the upcoming 5th St. Gallen Symposium Beijing Reception I am delighted that the Swiss Embassy has the opportunity to open its door for the second time this year to host this exciting event. Beijing is one of the exclusive cities where a pre-gathering of the symposium takes place, underlining China s importance to not only our partners in St. Gallen but also to Switzerland as a country. The diplomatic ties between the People s Republic of China and the Swiss Federation have started 63 years ago cumulating in an exceptional 2013 for the long-standing bilateral relations. The Embassy of Switzerland in China had the pleasure to receive no less than five Federal Councilors this year which constitutes a record. The true highlight of this year, however, was the successful signing of a Free Trade Agreement between China and Switzerland, making it the first one China has concluded with one of the world s most developed economies. This 5 th Beijing Reception is a pre-gathering for the 44 th St. Gallen Symposium which will take place in May 2014. The symposium as well as the Beijing Reception serve as platforms to facilitate a top level exchange of insights between generations and different disciplines, by bringing together the most successful Leaders of Today, that is to say entrepreneurs, business leaders, politicians and scientists with promising Leaders of Tomorrow. It is a fact that the demographic distribution is changing and resources are becoming scarce, the interests between generations are diverging and solutions on a global level are strongly needed. With the Beijing Reception s topic China s one-child policy: implications on society and economy, it focuses on a decades-long Chinese national strategy to address the challenge, namely the one-child-policy, which has been eased just a few weeks ago during the third plenary session of the 18 th CPC Central Committee in Beijing. In face of the timeliness of this topic and the diverse audience coming from different backgrounds, I look forward to stimulating discussions and to welcome you to the 5th St. Gallen Symposium Beijing Reception at the Embassy on 4 December 2013. Sincerely yours, Salome Meyer Chargé d affaires a.i. of Switzerland
3 A warm welcome to our 5 th Beijing Reception. We are proud to host this event in Beijing in collaboration with the Embassy of Switzerland on a topic which is most relevant not only to China s but also to the global society: The discussion on the implications of China s one-child policy and to what extent the announced policy-change is going to tackle the demographic, economic and social challenges the policy has caused so far. This event is closely linked to the 44 th St. Gallen Symposium which will be held in Switzerland from 8 9 May 2014 on the topic The Clash of Generations. Given the discrepancy of interests between generations in today s complex world, we are very excited to discuss an issue at this reception that ultimately affects millions of Chinese families and, of course, the next generation of leaders in a sense we probably cannot entirely foresee as of yet today. We always work very hard on bringing together the right people at the right time to discuss the right topic. Adding highly competent speakers to the panel who represent controversial and diverse opinions on the topic is key for a fruitful symposium-like gathering. In this regard, it is with great delight that we are able to involve a world-class demographer, a European top manager, a successful and international Chinese entrepreneur, a young Chinese female entrepreneur and finance expert as well as a renowned Chinese public intellectual in our discussion, moderated by our longstanding friend of the St. Gallen Symposium, Mr James Chau, CCTV News. Finally, we would like to thank you for your participation in this event. The audience s contribution to the debate is the heart of this reception and we are honoured to welcome 30 decision-makers from business and society as well as 30 of the most promising talents from the best universities in Beijing for today s discussion. They all have their own view, opinion and expertise on the topic and we are delighted to have yet another distinguished audience within an intimate setting at the Swiss Ambassador s residence. Sincerely Yours, Philip Erzinger Chief Executive Officer, St. Gallen Foundation for International Studies
5 th St. Gallen Symposium Beijing Reception WEDNESDAY, 4 DECEMBER 2013 PROGRAMME >>> 11:15 14:00 4 >>> 10:30 11:15 STUDENT PRE-GATHERING, for invited students only >>> 11:15 11:30 ARRIVAL OF GUESTS >>> 11:30 11:40 OPENING ADDRESS SALOME MEYER (CH), Chargé d affaires a.i. of Switzerland >>> 11:40 11:50 WELCOME ADDRESS PHILIP ERZINGER (CH), Chief Executive Officer, St. Gallen Foundation for International Studies >>> 11:50 13:00 CHINA S ONE-CHILD POLICY IMPLICATIONS ON SOCIETY AND ECONOMY The 5 th St. Gallen Symposium Beijing Reception addresses the course of China s demographic control policy in an economic as well as a social context. For three decades, many Chinese children have grown up without siblings. With the country s one-child policy in place, the economy would be lacking labour in large scale while an estimated 30 per cent of China s population would be at the age of 65 or older by 2050. Whereas five workers carry the financial burden of one pensioner today, this ratio would drop to just two-on-one in about twenty years time. Current family structures and a rapidly ageing population lead to a fragile pension system and, consequently, a challenging legacy to be passed on to the next generation. The 18th Central Committee has now announced to loosen the one-child policy. The impact of this decadeslong policy as well as the implications of the policy change will be discussed at this reception. DR URS BUCHMANN (CH), Managing Director, Head Corporate & Institutional Clients Asia Pacific, Credit Suisse Hong Kong Branch GAO VICTOR ZHIKAI (CN), Director, China National Association of International Studies (CNAIS)PROF. WANG FENG (CN), Fudan University and University of California, non-resident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution JIANG CRYSTAL (CN), Chief Executive Officer, Donglin Family Office LI REN (CN), Chief Executive Officer, Hangzhou China Arts Corp. Ltd. MODERATOR: JAMES CHAU (CN), News Anchor, CCTV News >>> 13:00 14:00 BUFFET LUNCH INFORMAL AND INTERGENERATIONAL EXCHANGE ON CURRENT KEY ISSUES
St. Gallen Symposium Dufourstrasse 83 9000 St. Gallen Switzerland Phone +41 71 227 20 20 Fax +41 71 227 20 30 info@symposium.org www.symposium.org 2013