Russia is an increasingly weak state under President Vladimir Putin, with the country’s elites abandoning it amid a feeling that there is no hope for the future, according to a leading European scholar on Russia and Ukraine.

Dr. Marie Mendras appeared at the FCC on March 13, 2019. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

Thirty years ago, under President Mikhail Gorbachev – the last leader of the Soviet Union – the country was a superpower following his democratisation measures and the end of the Cold War. But today’s Russia sees elites emigrating, a shrinking middle class, and a stagnant economy. Putin’s standing on the world stage has also suffered since Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine after it voted for independence.

“If you look back 20 years, the new president of Russia had many partners. He had strong partners in the European Union. And after 9/11 he had a strong partner in George W Bush,” said Dr. Marie Mendras, currently a visiting scholar at HK Baptist University.

Watch the video to hear Dr. Mendras on Vladimir Putin and Russia.

Today’s young people should cherish the opportunities they are given, says a top financier who was one of the so-called “lost generation” who missed out on education during China’s Cultural Revolution.

Weijian Shan speaking at the FCC on March 5, 2019. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

Weijian Shan is Chairman and CEO of PAG, one of Asia’s largest private equity firms. But growing up in China during the 1960s he found himself at the beginning of a decade of turmoil in China’s history, kicked off by Mao Zedong’s bid to take control of the Communist Party, a move which eventually led to the death of tens of millions through starvation.

Education was abandoned as schools and universities closed amid chaos, with gangs of young ‘Red Guards’ rampaged through city streets after Mao urged them to destroy China’s old culture and custom. During the first chaotic years of the revolution, Shan said, he witnessed teachers being beaten to death.

Shan told how, after Mao sent young urban dwellers out into the countryside for re-education, he was sent to work in the Gobi Desert to try to turn it into fertile land to grow crops for the country. Food was sparse, the winters were freezing cold, and the summers hot.

Showing photos of himself during that time which appear in his book, Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America, Shan said: “When I look at this picture I realise how stupid I was at that age. At the time, I thought I knew everything.”

After the Cultural Revolution ended with the death of Mao, a new economic relationship formed between the U.S. and China which resulted in an open door policy. Shan was selected by a Congressional-sponsored foundation to go to America as a visiting scholar. He eventually became a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania before embarking on a career in finance.

He recalled how, on a visit to a kindergarten funded by his company, he broke down in tears at the freely available books and learning tools for the children. Shan said youth today should treasure their opportunities.

Watch the video to learn more about Shan’s journey.

Inequality is on the rise in America, fueled by a new form of capitalism that, instead of encouraging competitive free markets, has seen monopolies and oligopolies dominate, according to the co-author of a new book.

Author Denise Hearn discussed the myth of capitalism at the FCC on February 27. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

The capitalism that lifted millions out of poverty no longer exists, rather it has become the antithesis of competitive marketplaces, said Denise Hearn.

Although it appears US consumers have endless choice when it comes to products and healthcare, this is an illusion: many of the smaller companies they purchase from are owned by much bigger conglomerates.

The figures are astounding: five banks – Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America – own more than 50 per cent of the nation’s banking assets. Four airlines – American, Delta, United, and Southwest –  control around 80 per cent of American domestic airspace. Almost every industry is dominated by “robber barons”, she said.

Waves of mergers and acquisitions are contributing to the death of competition which ultimately will result in higher prices for the consumer as it allows big business to set market prices, thus squeezing smaller businesses out of the market.

Hearn, co-author of The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition, told the February 27 club lunch: “Inequality is the symptom, it’s not the disease.”

Her book explores how the US arrived at the point where so much of the economy is dominated by the few.

Hearn also revealed some astonishing little-known facts about some of America’s big companies. Amazon, for example, doesn’t only provide an e-commerce platform but it also manufactures products that are available on its website. Hearn explained that the tech firm collects data from sellers, such as the type of customer buying from them, and then uses that data to enhance its own products – and undercut the competition.

Perhaps the most shocking story of all though involved a mortuary and supermarket chain Costco. But you’ll have to watch the video below to hear it.

Who owns the seas to our south?

Author, journalist, and former FCC President Philip Bowring’s new book, Empire of the Winds The Global Role of Asia’s Great Archipelago, delves into the history of the world’s largest archipelago to examine the now 400 million non-Chinese people who occupy most of the coasts of the South China, Java, and Sulu seas. The former editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review appeared at the club on February 21 to share insights from the book.

Watch the talk below.

The US-China trade war will have a “manageable” impact on the GDP of both nations, according to a scholar who was once a member of China’s top political advisory body.

Professor Lawrence Lau gave his expert opinion on how the US-China trade war would play out. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

Professor Lawrence Lau said that despite reporting its slowest growth since 1990 last year, China was still a strong economy and the maximum impact on it would be around a 1.1% drop. The impact on the US would be even smaller, he added, predicting a “less than 0.2%” drop.

“The first impacts [of the trade war] are mostly psychological,” Prof. Lau said at the January 29 club lunch.

The former Vice-Chancellor (President) of The Chinese University of Hong Kong explained that in terms of stock markets, Shenzhen performed badly as a result of the start of the trade war in January 2018, but all other markets remained stable. Similarly, China’s exchange rate – notably the Chinese Foreign Exchange Trade System Index (CFETS) – indicated that the RMB fell only 3% over the last year.

While the rates of growth of Chinese exports and imports fluctuate like those of all other economies, the rate of growth of China’s real GDP has also remained relatively stable, Prof. Lau said, primarily because it wasn’t dependent on outside influences.

Prof. Lau, a former member of the Department of Economics at Stanford University, predicted that by 2030, China’s real GDP would be “neck and neck” with America’s, but its GDP per capita would never catch up with the US.

Watch the full talk here.

The challenges of reporting the news in more than 40 languages and managing not to offend anyone in the process were outlined by Jamie Angus, Editor-in-Chief of the BBC World Service.

Jamie Angus gave amusing anecdotes illustrating the challenges in reporting in dozens of different languages. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

The World Service is now in its 87th year and has evolved from simply translating what the BBC core news team produced to building its own teams of multilingual reporters, reaching 372 million people per week. It broadcasts in 42 languages, from Hindi to Pashto, and more recently in Nigerian Pidgin which is only a spoken language.

Yet, said Angus, translating from one language into English, or another language, can sometimes be problematic. Angus, a former Editor of the BBC’s flagship Today Programme, gave often amusing examples of languages where one word can be pronounced several different ways, and if mispronounced, some could cause offence.

He also discussed the issues of reporting respectfully in places like Thailand, where insulting the monarchy is a criminal offence. When covering the death of the Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2016, the BBC World Service was faced with a dilemma in its reporting to Thai listeners. It is disrespectful to simply state the king is ‘dead’. Other translations guaranteed not to offend included ‘the King reached the unconscious end’, and he ‘passed to heaven’. After a lengthy discussion, the BBC decided to play it safe by announcing ‘the King is no longer alive’.

When asked about the state of today’s media in the context of fake news, and why people should trust BBC news, Angus said the BBC’s license fee and its Royal Charter made it more open and accountable to the public.

He told the January 24 club lunch: “We believe we’re the most trusted international broadcaster, but we must earn that trust every day and it’s very precious and we can’t lose it.”

Watch the video here.