Programme and guest
A Wealth Office conversation with Keyu Jin, a professor at the London School of Economics. Original English title: Why Deglobalisation Never Happened | Keyu Jin on Wealth Office. The subtitles cover the full video (approximately 9:30); this article covers the entire interview.
Key points
(The following paraphrases the guest’s intended meaning; timestamp links point to the corresponding places in the original video.)
- Over the past few years, the world economy has experienced a series of severe shocks, including the pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, Trumpism and the energy crisis. People have been talking about deglobalisation, Cold War 2.0, fragmentation and decoupling from China, but that is not what happened at all; US-China trade actually peaked in 2022. 0:15
- Political rhetoric is one thing, reality another. Media-driven headlines and political narratives are temporary because they lack a long-term structural foundation, while wealth, prosperity, growth in developing countries, poverty alleviation and preserving value for the next generation are the fundamental drivers rooted in human nature. 0:26
- Globalisation has found more room for choice: it is not just about transshipment and substitution. In Vietnam, for example, Chinese trade does not merely pass through; Chinese direct investment enters the country, builds local industries and creates local value. Many small and midsize economies and middle powers have consequently gained more opportunities, not to mention the flourishing trade in services. 1:16
- The forces seeking to fragment the world and prevent economics from prevailing over politics, despite throwing many “bombs” at the global economy, ultimately did not succeed. The new reality is that the world is no longer East versus West; understanding different cultures, multipolarity and multiple options for connection is key to whether families and companies can adapt to this new reality. 1:41
- Using only a very narrow lens—whether geopolitical or national security—will cause one to miss the real big picture, because the world’s fundamental forces are still shaped by people who want better lives. 2:16
Background and notes
The subtitles cover the full video (approximately 9:30); this article covers the entire interview. The views and timestamps are paraphrased from the original subtitles, and each timestamp marks the start of the corresponding passage. This is a short interview, so only the points present are included, with no padding.