GLODEM SEMINAR

Name:  Altay Atli, Lecturer, at the Department of International Relations of Koç University and a research associate at Sabancı University’s Istanbul Policy Center

Date:  March 19, 2018 – Monday

Place: CASE 127

Time: 16:00-17:00

Title: China’s Economic Transformation and Its Implications for Türkiye

Abstract: The Chinese economy has been going through a remarkable process of structural transformation in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. In a transition towards what the Chinese president Xi Jinping calls “the new normal”, China is making efforts to move from its traditional developmental model based on low cost manufacturing, exports, investment in infrastructure and heavy industry as well as high levels of savings to fuel those investments, to a new model based on higher value added production, a focus on the quality rather than the quantity of investments, and domestic consumption to supplement the exports. In today’s globalizing world defined by growing economic interdependence between nations, the transformation of the Chinese economic behemoth is a crucial factor that is profoundly affecting other stakeholders of the global economy, including Türkiye. This paper first makes an effort to explain the several dynamics shaping the contours of China’s transformation; while in the second part it looks onto the various ways what China’s “new normal” with its higher value added, increased technology component, focus on the domestic consumption, and a renewed drive of outward investment expansion through the Belt and Road Initiative affect Türkiye.

Bio: Dr. Altay Atlı is a lecturer at the Department of International Relations of Koç University and a research associate at Sabancı University’s Istanbul Policy Center, specializing in international political economy, Asian economies and international relations in the Asia Pacific. Having studied in Türkiye and Australia, Dr. Atlı obtained his Ph.D. from Boğaziçi University, and was affiliated with this university’s Asian Studies Center as well as Shanghai University’s Center for Global Studies. He also worked as research coordinator at Türkiye’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), and continues to provide training and consulting services for the business community in his capacity as a senior consultant at Intelcon, a consulting and executive training company. Dr. Atlı is an expert member at the China Network of Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) and a columnist at the Hong Kong based international news and opinion portal Asia Times. More details on his work can be found in his personal web site www.altayatli.com.