Words from the Editorial Office

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12252
• Published date: 01 September 2018
• Date: 01 September 2018

©2018 Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

China & World Economy / 1–1, Vol. 26, No. 5, 2018

1

Words from the Editorial Ofce

The year 2018 will be a year for the Chinese to remember. It marks the 40th anniversary

of China’s reform and opening-up policy, a time to reflect on the experiences of and

lessons from China’s economic development. It is also the year in which China has faced

the greatest challenge in the 40-year period of opening-up: it has been dragged into

an involuntary trade war it is reluctant to ght with the US, its most important trading

partner. What happened to China and US economic relationship that has undergone a

real turmoil? What will be the longer-term impact of trade friction on the international

trading system? What are the possible scenarios of China–US relations in the long term?

This Special Issue of China & World Economy presents some of the most incisive

analysis of these questions. Yu reviews the Section 301 investigation report on China’s

trade action, policies and practices and further discusses the legality of US action against

China based on Section 301. Lu examines the factors shaping the current China–US

economic situation from four perspectives. Essentially serving as a background paper,

Lovely and Huang provide a survey of foreign investment activity in China’s high-

technology manufacturing and nd that despite indigenous development, Chinese high-

technology manufacturing and exports remain deeply tied to foreign investment.

Posen looks beyond the recent trade friction and probes into future international

economic regimes by outlining 10 economics-based principles that the post-conflict

commercial regime should entail. By considering three major sets of actions taken by the

Trump Administration and their relation to WTO rules, Lawrence analyzes how the recent

trade measures undermine the rules-based trading system. He stresses the importance of

countries increasing their efforts to sustain and build an even stronger rules-based system

that achieves deeper integration. Bergsten considers whether the world economy faces a

“Thucydides trap.” He proposes three possible systemic scenarios between the US and

China in the long-term systemic contest for leadership of the world economy.

In February 2018, China Finance 40 Forum (CF40) and the Peterson Institute for

International Economics (PIIE) launched the research project on 2018 CF40–PIIE Joint

Report: A Constructive Approach to China–US Trade Tensions, and co-hosted the 7th

CF40–PIIE Economists’ Symposium in May 2018, to discuss how to effectively manage

bilateral economic relations. Based on the research and conference papers, the Journal

organized this special issue to provide a forum for further constructive dialogues between

Chinese and US scholars. The views expressed are solely those of the authors and do not

necessarily reect those of the journal.