Contact:  Christopher Whitney (312) 821 - 7516 or email

Washington, D.C. (October 3, 2006) – The United States and Japan should strengthen their economic engagement with China and India to reap fully the global benefits that the economic growth of the world’s two most populous countries can produce, recommends a study group of American and Japanese former government, business, and academic leaders. 

The study group, co-chaired by Kenneth W. Dam, former deputy secretary of the Treasury and Max Pam professor emeritus at the University of Chicago Law School, and Noburu Hatakeyama, Chairman and CEO of the Japan Economic Foundation and former vice-minister of International Affairs for the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, evaluates the economic rise of China and India and outlines specific recommendations for Japanese and U.S. policy makers.

The report recommends a number of steps to support balanced and sustained growth in China and India and enhance their positive impact on the global economy.  The key recommendations include reducing global economic imbalances, promoting free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region, encouraging technological innovation; managing energy competition; and, reducing environmental degradation. 

The study group was sponsored by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the Japan Economic Foundation, and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

“While the United States and Japan are not currently in the same position economically or politically with respect to India and China, our study group believes the common interest of economic engagement in these two countries far outweighs any difference in current policy,” noted Kenneth Dam, study group co-chair.  “Our report seeks to forge a common understanding of how our two nations can collectively respond to the emerging power of China and India.”

“It is important for Americans and Japanese to understand that we have nothing to fear from the growing economies of China and India if the way forward is one of engagement and integration,” said Noburu Hatakeyama, study group co-chair.  “Indeed, the average person has more to fear from the impact of a destabilized Asia, should China and India falter in their roles as engines of growth."

The study group’s recommendations include:

• Economic Growth and Sustainable Development
  •  Provide technical assistance to help China strengthen domestic markets, the rule of law and social security systems; and,
  • Increase loans and aid to India to improve physical infrastructure, schools, healthcare and encourage India to address its fiscal and structural problems.
• Economic Imbalances and Trade Deficits
  • Work towards increasing the involvement of China and India in the multilateral economic organizations like G-8 and IMF.
• Free Trade in Asia-Pacific
  • Promote regional economic integration and openness in the Asia-Pacific that is compatible with WTO; and, 
  • Support openness at home to empower those dislocated by globalization through education and training.
• Technological Innovation
  • Promote cross-border movement of highly-skilled people in science and technology, with each other and with China and India; and,
  • Encourage efforts to streamline and strengthen systems of intellectual property rights protection.
• Energy Resources and the Environment
  • Share with China and India new energy technologies for conservation and renewables.

For more information on this report and its recommendations, please visit the websites of the sponsoring organizations: www.thechicagocouncil.org, www.pacificcouncil.org, or www.jef.or.jp/.  Findings from a complimentary public opinion survey of American, Chinese and Indian views on public policy issues, included those outlined in the Bi-National study, will be released next week by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.  To download the full report click here(PDF).

About Chicago Council on Global Affairs
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, founded in 1922 as The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, is a leading independent, nonpartisan organization committed to influencing the discourse on global issues through contributions to opinion and policy formation, leadership dialogue, and public learning.  The Chicago Council recently announced its plans to greatly expand its contributions to opinion and policy making on issues of national and international importance, and changed its name to “The Chicago Council on Global Affairs” to reflect this increased range and relevance.

About the Pacific Council on International Policy
The Pacific Council on International Policy is a non-partisan membership organization comprising globally-oriented business, civic and government leaders whose mission is to give more effective voice to West Coast perspectives on international affairs. Founded in 1995 in partnership with the Council on Foreign Relations and the University of Southern California, the Council is an independent 501(c) 3 organization headquartered in Los Angeles. For more information about the Pacific Council on International Policy, visit www.pacificcouncil.org.
 
About the Japan Economic Foundation
The Japan Economic Foundation (JEF), which celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary in 2006, was established in July 1981 to deepen mutual understanding between Japan and other countries through activities aimed at promoting economic and technological exchanges. With this goal in mind, JEF engages in a broad range of activities, providing information about Japan and opportunities to exchange ideas among opinion leaders from many countries in such fields as industry, government administration, academia, and politics in order to remove the barriers to mutual understanding.