Beijing, June 24, 2025 — Amidst continued global uncertainties and geopolitical shifts, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) convened thought leaders, senior executives, economists, and diplomats at its 9^th Economic Symposium.

New energy vehicles took up close to 40% of the automobile market share in China in 2023. By the first half of April 2024, its penetration rate had rose to more than 50%, a historic high that signalled the popularization of new energy vehicles in the market. BYD, one of the major EV players in China, recognised it could sell its EVs at a higher premium than fuel cars and it has been selling EVs at a much faster rate than traditional vehicles. Riding the EV wave, BYD saw its revenue from cars rise from 22.2 billion in 2010 to […]

Anhui native Wang Chuanfu fortuitously studied metallurgical physical chemistry with a specialization in batteries, and just as fortuitously had the chance to manage a state-owned battery company post-graduation. When he read in 1994 about Japan’s environmental pledge to stop producing nickel-cadmium batteries, Wang saw an opportunity to fill a hole in the supply market with nickel-cadmium batteries for the thousands of phone producers on the make at the dawn of China’s mobile era. Soon after that, in 1995, he left the state-owned company and founded his own, which he named Build Your Dreams, or BYD for short. Fast forward to […]

The Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025 was held in Boao, China, from March 25 to 28, 2025. Dr. Li Haitao, Dean and Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of Finance at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), joined the forum.

On April 2, termed ‘Liberation Day’ by the US administration, US President Donald Trump unveiled a sweeping set of tariffs impacting vast swathes of the global economy. China initially received an additional 34% blanket tariff on its exported goods, with threats of further escalations, adding to several other tariffs already in place. China reacted to the initial tariff with a slew of countermeasures, including matching levies of their own on US goods, greater export controls on rare earths and multiple strong condemnations of the actions. “The US move is not in line with international trade rules, seriously undermines China’s legitimate […]

In December 2024, anticipating Trump’s takeover of the US presidency, Lan Kwai Fong Group’s chairman Allan Zeman called on the Hong Kong government to reform its Hong Kong exchange rate system. Being shackled to an inflationary US dollar was going to put extreme pressure on the HK dollar, he argued. Under Hong Kong’s linked exchange rate system, the HKD is pegged within a narrow band of 7.75 Hong Kong dollars and 7.85 Hong Kong dollars to 1 US dollar, with all HKD-based currencies backed by 100% foreign exchange reserves. As the US dollar strengthens, Hong Kong‘s monetary policy must follow […]

On March 5, 2025, the Third Session of the 14th National People’s Congress officially opened, with Premier Li Qiang delivering the Government Work Report, outlining China’s macroeconomic goals and key policy priorities for 2025.

In a gleaming showroom in Shenzhen, BYD’s latest electric vehicles sit priced at nearly half what they cost just two years ago. Meanwhile, 5,000 miles away in Stuttgart, Mercedes-Benz executives are quietly walking back their ambitious plans for an all-electric future. This tale of two cities captures the dramatic reshaping of the global automotive industry, as Western governments deploy their heaviest trade weapons — tariffs of up to 100% in the U.S. and 35% in Europe — to stem what they see as an existential threat from Chinese electric vehicles. The response from Beijing has been swift and sharp. According […]

Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), in collaboration with the University of Sydney Business School, successfully launched the inaugural Global Unicorn Program Sydney Module – New Energy and the Disruption of Traditional Industries from February 11-14.

January 20, 2025 saw Donald Trump swearing in as the new U.S. president witnessed by a host of tech industry leaders. It also saw DeepSeek, an emerging artificial intelligence (AI) company from China, unveiled its latest AI model, R1. Initially, R1 attracted little attention. However, as time passed, the significance of this model became increasingly clear. R1 performed on par with the latest models from top American AI firms like OpenAI, yet it required significantly less computing power and was, therefore, far more cost-effective. As a result, its usage fees were dramatically lower than those of its U.S. counterparts. This […]

Organizers: CKGSB, USYD Date: February 11, 2025 Time: 1:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. (Sydney Time) Format: In-person Location: USYD CBD Campus, Level 17, 133 Castlereagh St, Sydney The economic landscape in the Asia-Pacific region is undergoing significant transformations, driven by advancements in energy technology, shifts in trade policies, and the establishment of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which comprises 15 member countries including China and Australia, represents a major milestone in regional economic integration. This collaborative forum between the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) and the University of Sydney (USYD), aims to delve into these pivotal changes and explore the resulting opportunities […]

Australia, the world’s sixth-largest consumer market and largest producer of solar energy per capita, is emerging as a crucial bridge between Eastern innovation and Western markets in the sustainable technology sector. According to Wei Li, a senior lecturer and program director of the masters of international business program at the University of Sydney Business School, the country’s combination of natural resources, research capabilities, and geographic position makes it an ideal testing ground for new sustainable technologies. “Australia has had an interest in renewable energy for a long time,” Li explains. “It’s one of the sunniest countries in the world in […]

China’s SOEs dovetail with the country’s counter-cyclical economic policy strategy As a stock market rout in China deepened in early 2024—erasing $6 trillion of value from equities in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong—investors, including one of China’s sovereign wealth funds, ploughed ¥410 billion ($57 billion) into mainland shares, a spree that helped Chinese stocks rally from being the world’s worst performer in 2023 to the best in early 2024. There are some indications that part of the rally is due to investment by state-owned enterprises (SOEs)—companies established by central and local governments, and led by appointed officials—underscoring their importance in […]

Rarely do we talk about modern sports without evaluating how it is boosted by political incentives or market interests. However, these two dimensions don’t always align with each other. When they diverge, economic gains may have to be sacrificed to achieve political objectives. The Olympics Games, widely recognized as the world’s premier multi-sport event where […]

The CKGSB Business Conditions Index (BCI) is a pioneering research project initiated by Dr. Li Wei, Professor of Economics at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB).