The Chinese Dream – Challenges for China and the World

ISDP FORUM with Dr. Börje Ljunggren

Thursday, March 26, 2015, 10.00-11.30

What is this Chinese dream all about and what does China’s dramatic re-emergence mean for China and for the world? According to Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping, “the dream of great renewal of the Chinese nation will inevitably be accomplished”. The 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China in 2021 is the first landmark, the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic in 2049 the ultimate date.

In his new book Den kinesiska drömmen – utmaningar för Kina och världen (Eng. The Chinese Dream – Challenges for China and the World) Dr. Börje Ljunggren traces the origin of the Chinese dream, analyzing the challenges that China and the Chinese “party state” is facing while at the same time putting all the major issues – the authoritarian state and democracy, economic sustainability, civil society, inequality, climate change, demographic fertility implosion and, not least, the on-going power shift – into a global context.

The book is based on Börje Ljunggrem’s wealthy experience as a civil servant, diplomat and scholar. Dr. Ljunggren is one of Sweden’s leading experts on Asia. He has been head of Asia at both the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Sida, ambassador to China and Vietnam.

Dr. Börje Ljunggren is the former Swedish ambassador to China and Vietnam. Currently, ambassador Ljunggren is responsible for the coordination of the Stockholm China Forum (GMF) on behalf of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and chairperson of the SEB Asia Council. Ambassador Ljunggren is a member of the board of Lund University, the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, the Stockholm China Economic Research Institute of the Stockholm School of Economics and the Cambodia Development Resource Institute. Ambassador Ljunggren holds a Ph. D. in political science and is an Associate of the Harvard University Asia Center. His book “Den kinesiska drömmen: utmaningar för Kina och världen” (The Chinese Dream: Challenges for China and the World) was published in the beginning of 2015.

Location: ISDP, Västra Finnbodavägen 2, Stockholm-Nacka. For a map and directions, please go here.

To attend: RSVP to Mr. Scott Sutherland ssutherland@isdp.eu