China’s Development and Its Implications

Date: 22 September 2015

China is a country of contradictions. On the one hand, China is the most populous country in the world with the second largest economy. On the other hand, China is also one of the developing countries in the world with the per capita GDP at a relatively low level. Currently, China is faced with daunting tasks of comprehensive reforms in all areas of economic, social, and political systems to pave the way for more sustainable development. In this speech, the speaker will elaborate the challenges China is facing and strategies the Chinese leadership is adopting to deal with these challenges. The speaker will also talk about the China - New Zealand relationship.

Read the full text of Madame FU Ying's speech here.

About the speaker

Madame FU Ying has been the Chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress of China since March 2013.

FU Ying joined China’s Foreign Service in late 1970s and was first posted to Bucharest, Romania. Later she returned to the Foreign Ministry headquarters in Beijing and worked for many years as an interpreter for Chinese leaders. In 1992 in Cambodia, she became China’s first civilian UN peacekeeper and hence the start of her decade-long engagement with Asian affairs. From 1993 to 2000, she served successively as the Director, Counsellor of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian Department, Minister Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia (1997), China’s Ambassador to the Philippines (1998). She then served as the head of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian Department (2000), working on China’s comprehensive strategic partnership with ASEAN and the launch of the Six Party Talks.

She was appointed the Chinese Ambassador to Australia in 2004 and later Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2007.

From 2009 to 2013, she served as the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. Her portfolio first included Europe and foreign affairs pertaining to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan. Since 2012 she covered Asia as well as Boundary and Ocean Affairs.

She received her BA from the Beijing Foreign Studies University and MA from the University of Kent, with two honorary doctorates from the University of Kent and the University of Nottingham.