The rise of China in the new global economic order has made for a more prosperous and stable world, according to Associate Professor Mark Crosby from the Melbourne Business School.

Associate Professor Crosby, speaking ahead of this afternoon’s Festival of Ideas session on China and the New Economic Order, says that the increased role of China poses fresh challenges for Australia.

“The challenge to the Australian government is to make our investment rules and processes more transparent – it may be that the fact that nearly 50% of our foreign ownership is located in two Anglo-countries (the US and the UK) has in the past been driven by the nature of foreign demand for our assets. This will not be true in the future, and demand for assets from Chinese entities should be seen more as an opportunity than as a threat.”

However, Associate Professor Crosby says that the role China plays will only expand.  “China’s progress in the past 30 years has been remarkable, but it is interesting to speculate on where China will be in another 30 years. Currently China conducts around 8% of world trade, and produces around 11% of global GDP.”

“Whether China’s trade share will continue to grow is questionable, but with 20% of the global population it is possible that it’s integration into the world economy is not complete. What is certain is that China’s share of global GDP will not remain so far below China’s population share – in other words China will continue to grow more quickly than the global economy, and converge to global income levels.”

Associate Professor Crosby will be part of a panel of speakers at Friday afternoon’s session, alongside the University’s Dr Pradeep Taneja and Chief Economist at the ANZ, Saul Eastlake.

The Festival of Ideas brings together more than 50 outstanding thinkers from around the world who will discuss and debate the issue of climate change/cultural change.

The festival will look at the science of climate change, but will also consider the impact of climate change on the community – societal, political, economical, medical, geographic and creative.