Hu Shuli's Formal Address at the Caixin Summit Washington D.C. Session

Jointly presented by Caixin Media and the John L. Thornton Center at the Brookings Institution, the Caixin Summit Washington D.C. Session, themed The United States and China: The Next Five Years, seeks to examine the U.S. and China's prospects for economic restructuring over the coming half decade.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from Washington and from out of town, good evening.

It's nice to be back here, and it's absolutely a great honor for Caixin Media to host this conference with the Brookings Institution, in the city that shapes American policy and politics.

Between our last session in 2009 and this exciting new endeavor today, a lot has changed. In 2009, bin Laden was still at large. China wasn't yet the world's second-largest economy. Social networking tools were not as prevalent for disseminating information as they are now. The Tea Party was still a remote reference to a protest that happened in 1773. Regime change in the Arab world seemed unlikely. And the world was still mired in fear in the wake of the global economic crisis.

My colleagues and I worked for a different title back then, and we published only one magazine. Today we have four journals and many digital products under the Caixin umbrella. We're back, with more strength and diversity.

Change is good. Change is exciting. Change requires swift reaction, fosters deep thinking and promotes reflection. At this critical juncture in human history, as the world's financial, economic, and social structures undergo tremendous shifts, informed discussions and comprehensive analyses have never been more important. That's exactly what brings us here.

We see a new reality before our eyes. And increasingly, we feel simple questions are most important: What constitutes reform? What has powered our growth? What are the biggest obstacles to growth going forward? What are the roles of government and market? Who has the wealth, and who does it belong to? In the end, it all boils down to a couple of basic but broad questions: What is development? And what is justice?

These are the questions we try to raise while we cover the news. If you flip open the most recent issue of Caixin Weekly, you will find stories about capital chasing monopolistic power, and how babies were confiscated and sold into foreign adoption. The personal pursuit of a better living and market functions can be engines for development, but without the rule of law, and if government and public supervision are inadequate, these also have the potential to unleash destructive forces. Lessons have been learned in both China and the United States.

More changes are in store for the coming five years in each of our countries. China will get a new national leader, and in your country there will be a presidential election held. There will be new policies, and a new reality. As a journalist, and I suppose for our economists and policymakers as well, nothing can be more exciting than living in a place where history is in the making. Tomorrow you will hear from distinguished scholars and business leaders. And tonight, we are extremely privileged to have the Honorable Robert Hormats, Undersecretary of State, to share with us his insights. In addition to the nice banquet, we will have lots of food for thought. Hope you enjoy it.