China Wrestles With Shaping the Future of Shanghai

Source: Wall Street Journal

SHANGHAI -- An effort last week to define what kind of financial center Shanghai should develop produced few specific plans, underscoring how policy makers in China are unsure how to capitalize on a fast-rising profile amid a restructuring of the global financial order.

The two-day Lujiazui Forum, which ended Saturday, drew more than 700 top Chinese policy makers and financial-industry professionals to discuss how the city might transform itself into a peer of Hong Kong, New York and London. In March, China's central government green-lighted Shanghai's efforts to add fresh impetus to the development of financial services amid the city's worst slowdown in decades.

The Shanghai effort is a sign of China's ambition as a global power. Sustained economic growth in China and its position as the U.S.'s largest creditor during a ferocious world-wide economic downturn have given Beijing new influence in determining global financial-system policy.

A higher-profile role for China is important, People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said at the conference Friday. He said the current financial and economic crisis "can't be solved under the traditional G7 structure" -- a reference to the Group of Seven leading nations, all of which are developed Western nations except for Japan.



Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124259885772428149.html