Qiyuan XU is a senior fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He is the Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics at CASS and the Deputy Director of the Research Center for International Finance(RCIF). He received his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northeast Normal University in China and did postdoctoral research at the CASS before starting his career at the IWEP, CASS in 2011.

His research areas include China's macro economy, China-US economic and trade issues, global supply chain and value chain issues, and development financing. He has published over 80 papers and authored 11 monographs. His notable works include "Reshaping the Global Industrial Chain: China's Choices," "Confronting the China-US Trade Conflict," and "China Financial Opening Report: Sensing the Temperature of Policies."

He serves as an advisor of the Ministry of Finance's International Affairs Expert Studio, a special invited survey expert for the "China's Economists Confidence Survey" conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, an invited researcher of the China Finance 40 Forum(CF40), and a member of the National Advanced Manufacturing Cluster 50 Forum, a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the World Bank's flagship report World Development Report.

Jing Liu joined HSBC in February 2021 and is Chief Economist for Greater China. Previously, she worked as a senior economist at the Bank for International Settlements, where she focused on mainland China macro and financial system research. Prior to this, she worked as a senior manager in the financial stability surveillance division at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, mainly covering mainland China. Jing holds a PhD in economics from Cornell University, an MA in economics from the University of Kansas, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in management from Xi’an Jiaotong University.

Chris Torrens is a recognized expert and regular media commentator on China’s geopolitical and compliance risk issues. As the managing director of APCO’s Greater China operations, Chris brings unique insights to support both state-owned and private Chinese multinational companies operating globally, as well as foreign companies operating in China, advising on opportunities and challenges in the Chinese market, in particular in relation to geopolitical and regulatory risks.

Chris is a regular media commentator and has been interviewed by the BBC, CGTN, CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg. His articles have appeared in the Economist, People’s Daily, Financial Times and specialist publications and his book, Doing Business in China, was published by The Economist Group in 2010.

Before joining APCO, Chris worked at Control Risks for more than 20 years. He served as partner in the Greater China and North Asia region where he led the East China geomarket out of Shanghai before moving to Beijing to lead the North China geomarket. During this time he oversaw the growth of the company’s Chinese client base. Before this role, Chris was based in London as the partner responsible for the Global Risk Analysis practice for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Chris served as a Shanghai-based associate director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ advisory practice and as the Hong Kong-based head of research at Batey Burn, a UK government relations and public affairs consultancy, which was acquired by APCO in 1999.
 
Chris has lived in Greater China for nearly 25 years. He holds an MBA from the China-Europe International Business School, a BA Honours degree in Modern Chinese Studies from Leeds University and speaks Mandarin.