Simon Baptist is Editorial Director and Chief Economist at The Economist Intelligence Unit. Prior to his current role, he has held a number of other senior management and editorial positions in the business, including Managing Director for Asia, Regional Director of our Asia editorial team, Director of Global Forecasting, and Consulting Director in both Europe and Asia

Simon’s focus is on the global economy, national and international political developments, and public policy. He engages with business, government and international organisations, helping them to understand the operational and strategic implications of the EIU’s forecasts.

He has a doctorate in economics from and was a lecturer at Oxford University, along with degrees in economics and science from the University of Tasmania. His academic research investigated technology and the determinants of productivity in manufacturing firms.

Dame Caroline Wilson took up her post as British Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China in October 2020.

Dame Caroline joined the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office in 1995 after qualifying as a Barrister-at-law.

She completed Mandarin language training at Beijing Normal University before taking up her first role overseas at the British Embassy in Beijing from 1997-2000.

Dame Caroline was posted to the UK Representation to the European Union in Brussels in 2001 and served as Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary from 2004-2006.

DameCaroline was then seconded to the Cabinet Office European Secretariat as Deputy Director. From 2008-12 she served at the British Embassy in Moscow as Minister Counsellor.

Dame Caroline then went on to become Her Majesty’s Consul General to Hong Kong and Macao from 2012 to 2016.

Returning to London, Dame Caroline was appointed Europe Director at the FCDO, a role she held from 2016 to 2019.

Dame Caroline is fluent in Mandarin.

Dr Wei Li is Professor of Economics, Associate Dean of English MBA, Director of the Case Center and Director of the China Economy and Sustainable Development Center at CKGSB. He formerly served as a professor at the Darden Graduate School of Business, University of Virginia. Previously, he was a research associate at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Studies and taught at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Da Wei is director of the Center for International Strategy and Security (CISS) at Tsinghua，and professor of department of International Relations, school of Social Science, Tsinghua University.

Dr. Da ’s research expertise covers China-US relations and US security & foreign policy. Da Wei has worked in China’s academic and policy community for more than 2 decades. Prior to current positions, Dr. Da Wei was the assistant president of University of International Relations (2017-2020), director of the Institute of American Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (2013-2017). He has written hundreds of policy papers to Chinese government, and published dozens of academic papers on journals in China, the US and other countries.

Qiyuan Xu is a senior fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). He is the Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economy and Politics at CASS and the Deputy Director of the Research Center for International Finance(RCIF). He received his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Northeast Normal University in China and did postdoctoral research at the CASS before starting his career at the IWEP, CASS in 2011.

His research areas include China's macro economy, China-US economic and trade issues, global supply chain and value chain issues, and development financing. He has published over 80 papers and authored 11 monographs and translated 2 works. His notable works include "Reshaping the Global Industrial Chain: China's Choices," "Confronting the China-US Trade Conflict," and "China Financial Opening Report: Sensing the Temperature of Policies."

He serves as an advisor of the Ministry of Finance's International Affairs Expert Studio, a special invited survey expert for the "China's Economists Confidence Survey" conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics, an invited researcher of the China Finance 40 Forum(CF40), and a member of the National Advanced Manufacturing Cluster 50 Forum, a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the World Bank's flagship report World Development Report.

Mattie Bekink is responsible for the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network’s China strategy, including programme development and client engagement across China.

Ms Bekink has extensive experience in the public, private and policy sectors. Prior to joining The Economist Group, she was the Executive Director of the Fulbright Commission in the Netherlands. She also ran an eponymous consulting business, advising businesses, universities and non-profit organisations on China policy, strategy, public affairs, and CSR. Ms Bekink practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, has worked with the US-Asia Law Initiative at NYU Law School and the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative China Program, and served in the legal department at General Motors China.

Ms Bekink has a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and a JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Robert Xiao is the Director of the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network (EICN) in Beijing. He is responsible for engaging with top executives in the region and providing insights on economic and policy trends to support their business development in the Chinese market.

Mr Xiao was previously a PhD Supervisor and Deputy Director of the Impact Finance Hub at Deakin Business School before joining EICN. His research mainly focused on the fields of corporate social responsibility, corporate governance, and economic and financial policy analysis related to the Chinese market. He has authored multiple publications in Financial Times Top 50 Journals and been awarded major research grants jointly by the Australia Academy of Social Sciences and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He also has more than a decade of experience teaching business courses including in Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Finance, and Bachelor of Commerce programmes at leading universities.

Mr Xiao has a Ph.D. in Finance and B.Com. (Hons) in Accounting and Finance from Monash University.