Academics and journalists debate whether the future belongs to India and not China.
Professor Deepak Lal, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles
Professor Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, University of Oxford
Jonathan Fenby, MD of China Team, Trusted Sources and Former Editor, Observer and South China Morning Post
Professor Stephen Chan, OBE, Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS, University Of London
Chair: Edward Lucas, International Editor, The Economist
Bio
Stephen Chan
Professor Stephen Chan OBE has twice been Dean at London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. He has published 28 scholarly books and was the 2010 International Studies Association Eminent Scholar in Global Development. Professor Chan was an international civil servant with the Commonwealth Secretariat and helped pioneer modern election observation at the independence elections in Zimbabwe in 1980 and was afterwards twice invited to Oxford as a visiting fellow. He has worked throughout Africa, most recently in South Sudan. He was consulted by the Chinese Government on its policy towards Darfur as part of a liberalisation in Chinese policy and was also a member of the African delegation, led by the Deputy Chair of the African Union, Patrick Mazimhaka, to the Trilateral Dialogue involving Africa, China and the USA in the first decade of the 2000s. The firstborn son of Chinese refugees to New Zealand, he became a leading figure in the literary renaissance of that country in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and published five volumes of poetry and, more recently, the first of a trio of novels. Professor Chan continues to work in Africa regularly but, from this vantage point, has been able to observe both the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese expansion. His latest book, from Yale University Press, Southern Africa: Old Treacheries and New Deceits, was the most acquired library book on Africa in the USA in the first part of this year. His earlier The End of Certainty, explored international cultural norms and beliefs, including those of Indian folklore and spiritual literature. He is the Chairman of the philanthropic Kwok Meil Wah Foundation.
Jonathan Fenby
Jonathan Fenby is the author of six books on China and six others on subjects including the Second World War Alliance, France and Charles de Gaulle. His most recent book is Tiger Head, Snake Tails on contemporary China which has been a critically acclaimed best-seller. His widely-praised Penguin History of Modern China was chosen as a book of the year by both the Economist and Financial Times. He is China Director of the research service, Trusted Sources (www.trustedsources.co.uk) which has a strong record in analysing and forecasting political, economic and social developments in the People’s Republic. He has been editor of The South China Morning Post, The Observer and Reuters World Service, and held senior editorial positions with The Economist, The Independent and The Guardian. He lectures and contributes frequently to press and broadcasting stations on China and international affairs. He is a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and Knight of both the French Legion of Honour and Order of Merit.
Deepak Lal
DEEPAK LAL is James S. Coleman Professor Emeritus of International Development Studies, University of California at Los Angeles, and Professor Emeritus of Political Economy, University College London. He was educated at the Doon School, Dehra Dun, St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and Jesus College, Oxford. He has been a member of the Indian Foreign Service, (1963-66), a full-time consultant to the Indian Planning Commission (1973-74) and a consultant to numerous international agencies and governments. He was the Research Administrator at the World Bank (1984-87) He received the Italian Societa Libera's International Freedom Prize for Economics in 2007, and was the President of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Professor Lal is the author of numerous articles and books on economic development and public policy including: The Poverty of Development Economics; The Hindu Equilibrium; Unintended Consequences; In Praise of Empires; Reviving the Invisible Hand; and most recently Lost Causes and Poverty and Progress.
Edward Lucas
Rana Mitter
Rana Mitter is Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow of St Cross College. His research has focused on the historical development of Chinese nationalism, with a particular interest in the Sino-Japanese War of the 1930s and 1940s, and its effects on shaping contemporary China. He is the author of several books including A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World (Oxford, 2004), for which he was named Young Academic Author of the Year by the UK Times Higher Education Supplement in 2005, and Modern China: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2008). His new book Forgotten Ally: China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945, will be published in 2013.
Rana presents and contributes regularly to programmes on television and radio, including BBC World News, the History Channel, and Night Waves on BBC Radio 3 in the UK. His essays and reviews have appeared in publications including the Financial Times, Outlook, The Telegraph (Kolkata), The Times of India, The Guardian, The Economist, and History Today.
J. Craig Venter
J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his numerous invaluable contributions to genomic research. He is Founder, Chairman, and President of the
J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, research organization with approximately 300 scientists and staff dedicated to human, microbial, plant, synthetic and environmental
genomic research, and the exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics.
Dr. Venter is also Founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics Inc., a privately held company dedicated to commercializing genomic-driven solutions to address global needs such as new sources of energy and next generation vaccines.
Dr. Venter began his formal education after a tour of duty as a Navy Corpsman in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. After earning both a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and a Ph.D. in Physiology and Pharmacology from the University of California at San Diego, he was appointed professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. In 1984, he moved to the National Institutes of Health campus where he developed Expressed Sequence Tags or ESTs, a revolutionary new strategy for rapid gene discovery. In 1992 Dr. Venter founded The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR, now part of JCVI), a notfor-profit research institute, where in 1995 he and his team decoded the genome of the first free-living organism, the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae, using his new whole genome shotgun technique.
In 1998, Dr. Venter founded Celera Genomics to sequence the human genome using new tools and techniques he and his team developed. This research culminated with the February 2001 publication of the human genome in the journal, Science. He and his team at Celera also sequenced the fruit fly, mouse and rat genomes.
Dr. Venter and his team at the Venter Institute continue to blaze new trails in genomics. He and his team have sequenced and analyzed hundreds of genomes, and have published numerous important papers covering such areas as environmental genomics, the first complete diploid human genome, and the
groundbreaking advance in creating the first self replicating bacterial cell constructed entirely with synthetic DNA.
Dr. Venter, one of the most frequently cited scientists, is the author of more than 250 research articles. He is also the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, public honors, and scientific awards, including the 2008 United States National Medal of Science, the 2002 Gairdner Foundation International Award and the 2001 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize. Dr. Venter is a member of numerous prestigious scientific organizations including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Society for Microbiology.
China's unique geography and geopolitical ambitions give it a distinct advantage over other Asian countries including India, according to Professor Rana Mitter of the University of Oxford.
