Given China’s weakened financial position, it must embrace low-cost reforms that drive growth without adding to budget pressures

In order to explore the complexities of our rapidly changing world, the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center will examine pressing global issues through four engaging panel discussions in a one-day event, under the collective title, “The World in Focus: Uncertainty and the Global Outlook for 2024.”

Despite the summit’s modest expectations, Carnegie fellows saw welcomed outcomes on economic, military, and AI issues.

China is mired in an economic slowdown that threatens its impressive achievements over the past four decades.

Washington can’t decouple from China without Europe’s help, while China hopes to soften Europe’s stance and has focused its diplomacy there. This has put Brussels in a pivotal position.

China’s economic malaise is a consequence of deep structural weaknesses rather than cyclical factors. While Beijing’s shedding of its draconian Covid-19 policies late last year generated a burst of enthusiasm about reviving growth based on pent-up consumption, these sentiments were short-lived.

For the West, concerns about dependency are often cast in terms of China’s dominance in producing critical goods such as pharmaceuticals or the lithium essential in most batteries.

China’s leadership has managed well in adjusting to the trade and technology restrictions imposed by successive U.S. administrations.

With relations at an all-time low, punitive actions targeting China have become politically popular, even if they have no analytical basis.

But China needs a properly functioning global economic system to prosper given that it is the major trading partner with more than 100 countries. Constructive engagement with China on economic issues offers a path to a less contentious dialogue on the more sensitive security issues for Western powers.