Directed by Prof. XIE Fuzhan, President of CASS, the First Session of the Colloquium Series on Policy and Realitiesby CASS Members kicked off as scheduled on April 12th.

As the lead of the faculty team for the UCASS Colloquium Series, Prof.CAI Fang, Vice President of CASS and Member of CASS, delivered an academic lecture on Making the Most of theStrategic Opportunities for High-quality Development for close to 800 undergraduates. Prof. CAI probed into four aspects of the theme in great detail: The economic realities of China; the special dividend; reform-stimulated momentum; the international political and economic context; and the unavoidable growing pains.

Prof. CAI pointed out the necessity of better understanding of the unprecedented changes the world is facing in order to truly see through the international political and economic context. As indicated in the Central Economic Working Conference, recognition of the coexistence of threats and opportunities in the changing world presents major opportunities to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. To that end, it is essential to stay vigilant not only to black swan incidents but also against gray rhino events. That requires preemptive preparations on prevention and resilience as well as proactive responses to counter risks and even translate such challenges into opportunities. As China entered into its new normal and rolled out supply-side structural reforms, economic research needs to move beyond its confinement to the demand-side analysis on the troika of growth drivers (investment, export and consumption).

Going forward, the key of making the most of the strategic opportunities for high-quality development lies with a conversion to new growth drivers and further opening-up. The speaker also interacted with students on topics such as the revitalization of the rusty-belt in Northeast China, the Belt and Road Initiative and the demographic dividend vs. talent dividend.

The session was chaired by Prof. WANG Xinqing, Vice President of UCASS and President of GSCASS, with remarks from Dr. MA Yuan, Deputy Secretary General of the Presidium of Academic Divisions and Director General of the General Office of Academic Divisions of CASS.