We are pleased to announce that Dr. He Haifeng has officially assumed the role of Global Chief Economist at CSC. Dr. He will oversee global macro and strategic research, building a round-the-clock analytical capability across time zones and markets. He will interpret monetary policies of major global economies, clarify the logic of industrial shifts amid global supply chain restructuring, address the gap in emerging markets' influence on global asset pricing, and support the company's cross-border derivatives, offshore bond underwriting, and other international business initiatives.
Dr. He has spent years deeply researching global macroeconomics, financial strategy, and policy. Going forward, he will focus on global macro analysis, supporting the research needs of the Hong Kong company and foreign clients, providing policy advisory to relevant ministries and institutions, and enhancing the academic reputation of CSC's think tank. This will help boost recognition among domestic and foreign institutional investors, establish the company's "No. 1 card," and improve the market influence and brand image of its research operations.
A brief biography of Mr. He Haifeng: He is the Global Chief Economist of CSC, specializing in macroeconomics, financial strategy, and policy. He serves as the Executive Director of the "China Financial Policy Report" project at Tsinghua University's PBC School of Finance, an adjunct professor at the University of Science and Technology of China, a council member of the China Society for Finance and Banking, and a council member of the China Chief Economist Forum. The following is a summary of Dr. He's insights.
Bridging China and the World with a Global Perspective
CSC's global macro and strategic research encompasses two dimensions: the Landscape (geographical space) and the Timescape (historical time), which must be integrated. This is the core difference between current global research and traditional overseas, international, or world studies. We are building an analytical framework and discourse system that returns to the core concept of global research. This macro-level narrative involves two layers: a global narrative, focusing on shared challenges and opportunities across stages, and a Chinese narrative, placing China within the global context to clarify its position and role, which forms the core of the analysis. The global narrative includes fixed common themes and basic logic, covering global macroeconomics, geoeconomics, geopolitics, industries, and markets. Building a robust discourse system is crucial for completing the analytical framework. Philosopher Michael Polanyi said, "We can know more than we can tell," and a Chinese proverb says, "Words cannot fully express thoughts, and writing cannot fully express words." Therefore, constructing an effective discourse system and choosing appropriate content are vital. Our goal is to establish a "global macro and strategic research with a global vision and Chinese characteristics." In the short term, we aim to attract like-minded researchers dedicated to this field, starting from CSC to build a global macro and strategic research system centered in China. Medium-term goals focus on two areas: domain research, covering trade, investment, and financial flows, linking them to strategy and stakeholders; and thematic research, conducting in-depth analysis of urgent issues in response to changing times. Overall, we emphasize combining domains with themes and balancing thought, framework, and methodology. Amid the high homogeneity of sell-side research, global macro and strategic research will produce high-quality, in-depth reports on geopolitics, long-term growth paradigms, and more, covering international relations, great power competition, and global industrial chain restructuring, elevating research to a global asset level. The service scope extends beyond the secondary market to include regulators, media, and overseas institutions, building the international brand and influence of the research institute through deep reports, forum participation, and external citations. This will actively establish CSC's think tank's academic image, enhance recognition among domestic and foreign institutions, and help build the company's "No. 1 card."
Rise of the East and Southward Expansion
The global economy faces significant divergence and multiple overlapping conflicts. Understanding these complexities requires an analytical framework. Global macro and strategy can be divided into two levels: the foundational level, comprising energy, transportation, and information industries, which support all modern economies; and the surface level, involving trade, investment, and capital flows. Over the past two to three years, dramatic changes in geopolitics and geoeconomics have disrupted the link between these levels, creating a core contradiction. This contradiction is essentially a new form of re-regionalization arising from the tussle between globalization and fragmentation, manifested in the restructuring of industrial, supply, and value chains, and increased demands for security and resilience. For global policymakers, especially in major economies, two dimensions must be considered. The primary dimension is the macro trend: the global economic landscape has shown an irreversible "Rise of the East and Decline of the West," a historical rebalancing akin to a pendulum reset. In this context, attention must focus on developing and regionally influential directions, summarized as "developing toward the South," encompassing both the Global South and South-South cooperation. For example, in China, emerging economies like Indonesia and Vietnam in Southeast Asia show positive momentum. Thus, the "Rise of the East and Decline of the West" combined with "developing toward the South" should be a priority premise and logical foundation for global policymakers. Additionally, the AI era is deeply integrating artificial intelligence into industries and scenarios, but AI's benefits should not be limited to one or a few countries; it should contribute to global development. Regardless of AI's development path, it should contribute more to the economy and human society, a common challenge for global strategic and economic decision-makers.
Future Main Investment Themes for Chinese Assets: Equity and Fund Markets
The "15th Five-Year Plan" period is a critical phase for China's economic transformation and upgrading. Looking back, China has undergone two major modernization transformations: reform and opening-up, and WTO accession. Entering the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, AI is a new transformative variable, representing cutting-edge technological breakthroughs likely to trigger widespread industrial revolutions. Consequently, the plan emphasizes strategic emerging industries and future industries, while macroeconomic departments like the NDRC, MIIT, and MOF have issued numerous "AI+" related plans. China's economic transformation and development will feature comprehensive modernization during the "15th Five-Year Plan," reflected across industries and sectors, imposing new requirements for the modernization of China's financial system and capital markets. For investment themes in Chinese assets over the next three to five years, historical patterns offer guidance. For instance, the U.S. in the 1970s experienced financial disintermediation, shifting from indirect to direct financing, where market-based institutions like stocks, funds, and securities firms surpassed traditional credit systems in financing and asset formation scale for the first time. Similarly, in China last year, the scale of direct financing in new social financing exceeded credit for the first time, a trend continuing this year. From an asset allocation perspective, we believe that the modernization of the industrial system, the goal of common prosperity, and the dividends of the AI era will ultimately be reflected in financial transformation and capital market modernization, with the capital market being central. Therefore, considering major trends and historical references, the Chinese stock market and fund market are likely to become the main investment themes going forward.