The 12th IPP International Conference –
Reshaping Modernization: China and the Global South
Location: Guangzhou, China
Time: 23-24 August 2025
Conference Convenor: Professor Yongnian Zheng, Chair of Academic Committee, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
Organizer: Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
Concept Note
The Institute of Public Policy (IPP) at South China University of Technology, a China Top Think Tank (CTTT), is dedicated to advancing social science research on China’s political economy. The IPP has organized international conference annually since 2013 to facilitate global dialogues on issues of global and strategic concerns, including macro-economic trends, social policy, and foreign affairs. This event provides scholars with an international platform to strengthen their professional visibility and promotes meaningful exchanges among academics, industrial experts, and policymakers in China and beyond.
This year, in 2025, we will organize the 12th IPP International Conference in Guangzhou, with a thematic focus on the modernization of China and the Global South.
The choice is motivated by a few pivotal developments in international political economy. First, the stunning tariff plan that the Trump administration unleashed in April 2025 has kicked off the dismantling and restructuring of the global economic order. Second, China’s economy has come to a critical juncture, requiring structural adjustments to sustain long-term development. Third, emerging technologies like artificial intelligence are poised to revolutionize production relations within and between societies. Finally, the global economic growth centre is increasingly shifting to the Global South, with ASEAN countries and India leading at the forefront.
These ongoing structural transformations demand a renewed approach to modernization with an emphasis on the Global South’s experience. As the world’s developmental paradigm moves beyond the misleading dichotomy between the Washington and the Beijing Consensus, and towards a set of more diverse – and indeed, more divided – categories, it becomes more and more evident that the Global South will reshape our understanding of modernization in years if not decades to come. The key questions are: How will the Global South unite and reshape the world order? Can the Global South rise above the fray as globalization crumbles under the Trump shock? How can the Global South’s experiences in modernization in past decades reconceptualize, and offer solutions to, global development? Bringing the Global South to comparative light with China will give us valuable insights into these questions – an urgent task in a time of uncertainty.
CONFERENCE AGENDA
August 22, 2025 (Friday)
Registration & Hotel Check-in
18:30 – 20:30 | Welcome Dinner
August 23, 2025 (Saturday)
Conference Day
8:25 – 8:45 | Opening Remarks
University Leadership, South China University of Technology
Government Representatives
Zheng Yongnian, Chairman of the Academic Committee, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
8:45 – 10:15 | Keynote Speech: The World in 2050: Some Quantitative Perspectives
Jeffrey Sachs, University Professor, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University
10:15 – 10:30 | Coffee Break and Group Photo
10:30 – 12:00 | Panel 1: Global Development in Transition
Moderator: Zhu Yanling, Assistant Research Professor, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
Ren Lin, Director and Research Fellow, Global Governance Office, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Gordon Mathews, Research Professor & Emeritus Professor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Nikita Sud, Professor of the Politics of Development, University of Oxford
12:00 – 14:00 | Lunch Break
14:00 – 15:30 | Panel 2: Structural Transformation of the World Economy and Global Governance
Moderator: Liu Jia, Associate Research Professor, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
Li Qing, Professor, Secretary General of Guangdong Institute for International Strategies (GIIS) and Executive Director of Huangpu Institute, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Mehri Madarshahi, International Fellow, Center for China and Globalization (CCG); Vice Chairman, Asia-Pacific Exchange and Cooperation Foundation; Senior Economist, United Nations, New York (Emeritus); Honorary Professor, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
Danny Quah, Li Ka Shing Professor in Economics, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore
15:30 – 15:45 | Coffee Break
15:45 – 17:15 | Panel 3: China and the Global South in the Era of Multipolarity
Moderator: Xu Weijun, Assistant Research Professor, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
Evi Fitriani, Professor of International Relations, University of Indonesia
Narut Charoensri, Assistant Professor in International Relations at the School of International Affairs, Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University
Vitaly Kozyrev, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Endicott College
Guo Hai, Executive Dean, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
17:15 – 18:00| Roundtable Discussion: How will changes in geopolitical constellations and global governance affect modernization in China and the Global South?
Host: Hans d’Orville, Former Deputy Director-General and Assistant Director-General for Strategic Planning, UNESCO; Honorary Professor, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
Speakers: Evi Fitriani, Nikita Sud, Danny Quah, Zheng Yongnian
18:00 – 18:30 | Concluding Remarks
Guo Hai, Executive Dean, Institute of Public Policy, South China University of Technology
18:30 | Dinner Reception
August 24, 2025 (Sunday)
Post-conference Activity:
A Tour to Guangzhou’s High-Tech Industry (TBC)
