Symposium on Cross-Strait Financial Cooperation and Press Conference of Cross-Strait Financial Reform Studies

On October 29, Symposium on Cross-Strait Financial Cooperation and Press Conference of Cross-Strait Financial Reform Studies was held by IMI and Bank SinoPac (Taiwan) in Beijing. The conference mainly centered on the comparison of financial systems between mainland China and Taiwan and prospects of cross-strait collaboration. Many famous experts and scholars from government sectors, academia and financial industry attended the symposium and delivered speeches, including: Qiu Zhengxiong, former chairman of board of Bank Sinopac (Taiwan); Xu Jiadong, former chairman of board of Taiwan Financial Research and Training Institute; Chen Muzai, former chairman of board of China Development Financial; Cai Yingyi, associate professor of applied economics of National University of Kaohsiung; Qin Chijiang, former director, Financial Institute of PBoC; Wei Benhua, former deputy administrator-in-bureau of SAFE; Zhang Zhixiang, former director-general, International Department of PBoC; Zhuang Yumin, vice president of Minjiang University; Sun Lujun, chairman of CNIC Corporation Limited; Xie Huaizhu, deputy director of International Finance Division, Research Bureau of PBoC; Si Yuanzhong, chief representative of Deutsche Börse Group Beijing Representative Office; Xing Yuhui, vice president and CRO of Beijing International Trust Co., Ltd.; Zhong Hong, senior researcher of International Finance Institute, Bank of China; Yin Jihong, associate professor, School of Finance of RUC; Tu Yonghong, deputy director of IMI; and research fellows of IMI Cheng Lie, Wang Fang, He Qing, Hu Bo, Qian Zongxin, Zhao Xueqing, Jiang Nan. The symposium was also attended by numbers of media including China Financial Publishing House, Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily and China Daily, etc. The conference was divided into two parts: press conference of Cross-Strait Financial Reform Studies and symposium on cross-strait financial cooperation. The press conference was chaired by Prof. Song Ke, deputy director of IMI. Prof. Cai Yingyi, independent director of Bank Sinopac, introduced the initiation of the research collaboration, that is drawing lessons from the development of Taiwan’s financial market and getting to know the role Taiwan will play in cross-strait finance and innovation of financial products, especially those largely related with RMB.

Cai Yingyi

Prof. He Qing interpreted the report focusing on the opportunity and challenge of synergetic finance. As RMB internationalization index reached 3.6 and US current account deteriorates, RMB internationalization can propel the international monetary reform and help to solve new Triffin dilemma, which will bring a significant and historical opportunity. He mentioned that the main challenge for the synergetic finance between mainland and Taiwan is the lag of mainland’s financial development. He also analyzed the current reform direction of interest rate, exchange rate and capital account. He put forward that the establishment of Taiwan RMB offshore center is a critical break point of collaboration mechanism and suggested start from building an offshore RMB settlement center in order to deepen cross-strait economic cooperation.

He Qing

Mr. Qiu Zhengxiong firstly reviewed the appreciation of Japanese Yen and the appearance of capital market bubble in 1990s, then analyzed the reason why Taiwan’s economy grew rapidly while Japan’s economy deteriorated under the same monetary policy that raised interest rate. He considered there were four financial factors that helped Taiwan turned into high-income economy from medium-income economy: appreciation of TWD, Taiwan’s technological innovation, change in PER of the American, Japanese and Taiwan’s stock markets and the supporting monetary policies taken by Taiwan’s monetary authority.

Qiu Zhengxiong

In the discussion section, Mr. Qin Chijiang, Prof. Xu Jiadong, Mr. Wei Benhuai, Mr. Chen Muzai, Mr. Zhang Zhixiang, Mr. Sun Lujun and Ms. Xie Huaizhu expressed opinions on the significance and highlights of the project, framework and content of the report, cross-strait foreign exchange rate reform and opening of capital account, RMB’s inclusion into the SDR, financing of SME, capital flows and Triffin dilemma.

Qin Chijiang

Xu Jiadong

Wei Benhua

Chen Muzai

Zhang Zhixiang

Sun Lujun

Xie Huaizhu

In the afternoon, the Symposium of Cross-Strait Financial Cooperation was held. The symposium centered on two topics: cross-strait cooperation in the establishment of RMB offshore center and cross-strait collaboration in financing and investment under the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative. Prof. Zhuang Yumin pointed out that cross-strait financial collaboration needs to consolidate the economic and systematic foundation, highlight the complementarity of industries. Meanwhile, Mr. Qin Chijiang figured that collaboration should put emphasis on the economic structural transformation, financial resources utilization, risk prevention, people’s well-being and international competition.

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