Five years ago, Chinese leader Xi Jinping launched the One Belt One Road Initiative (BRI) to direct massive investment in infrastructure aimed at linking Asian, African and European markets, as well as to replicate China’s success in driving growth in emerging markets. We will discuss whether the $1 trillion dollars China has pledged is a boon to emerging market countries, or a predatory threat to the post-war multilateral order.  Our speakers will also address three key questions: Does China have the financial firepower and the deal-making capacity to become a dominating force in infrastructure financing?  Do Western powers like the US, Europe, and Japan risk being sidelined by BRI and is there anything they can do to avoid becoming irrelevant?  What are the implications to American and Japanese business from BRI – is it all a competitive threat or could BRI create opportunities as well?

Come hear views on these and other critical questions on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, from 5:30-7:30 PM at Dentons San Francisco.  Our program will feature Matthew Goodman, Senior Vice President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Chairman Emeritus of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., Sean Creehan, Analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Larry Greenwood, President of the Japan Society of Northern California.  Matthew has been tracking the BRI since its inception and has advised the Obama Administration on policies to address the challenge.  Sean has completed in-depth work on Japan’s financial firepower in the area of infrastructure financing, discovering that Japanese banks have outpaced Chinese banks in infrastructure financing for years. Drawing on his years at the Asian Development Bank, Larry will talk about how the US and Japan can work together to offer a constructive alternative to Chinese infrastructure financing for badly needed infrastructure in developing Asia and Africa.

Program Schedule:
5:30 – 6:00: Registration
6:00 – 6:30: Individual Presentations
6:30 – 7:00: Panel Discussion and Q&A
7:00 – 7:30: Networking Reception

Speaker Profiles:

Matthew P. Goodman
Senior Vice President & Senior Advisor for Asian Economics | Center for Strategic and International Studies

Matthew P. Goodman is senior vice president, senior adviser for Asian economics, and holds the Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS. The Simon Chair explores current issues in international economic policy, with a focus on the Asia-Pacific region. Before joining CSIS in early 2012, Goodman served as director for international economics on the National Security Council staff, helping the president prepare for G20 and G8 summits. He was also White House coordinator for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the East Asia Summit. Prior to the White House, Goodman was a senior adviser to the undersecretary for economic, energy, and agricultural affairs at the U.S. Department of State.

Goodman has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors. Before joining the Obama administration in 2009, he worked for five years at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global business advisory firm based in Washington, DC, where he was managing director for Asia. From 2002 to 2004, he served at the White House as director for Asian economic affairs on the National Security Council staff. Prior to that, he spent five years at Goldman, Sachs & Co., heading the investment bank’s government affairs operations in Tokyo and London. From 1988 to 1997, he worked as an international economist at the U.S. Treasury Department, including five years as financial attaché at the U.S. embassy in Tokyo. Goodman holds an M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a B.S. in economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is chairman emeritus of the board of trustees of the Japan-America Society of Washington, DC.

Sean Creehan
Senior Analyst | Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco

Sean Creehan is an analyst in the Country Analysis Unit within the Division of Financial Institution Supervision and Credit (FISC) at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. In that capacity, he conducts research into Asian financial and economic issues and produces analyses of Asian foreign banking organizations. In addition, he monitors financial, regulatory, and economic developments in Asia with a special focus on Northeast Asia and South Asia. His research interests include financial inclusion, cross-border capital flows, and financial technology. Before joining the Federal Reserve, Mr. Creehan worked as a management and strategy consultant advising clients on their investing and operating activities in Asia. His work has been published in academic and popular publications, including the Harvard International Review, the SAIS Review of International Affairs, and The Atlantic. Mr. Creehan received a master’s degree in international economics from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University. He spent a postgraduate year as a Harvard-Yenching Scholar at Peking University and speaks Mandarin Chinese and Indonesian. In addition, he is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Larry Greenwood
President | Japan Society of Northern California

Larry Greenwood assumed the position of President of the Japan Society of Northern California on March 16, 2016. Prior to joining the Society, Larry worked four years in Tokyo where he managed government relations throughout Asia for MetLife and five years in Manila, Philippines where he co-led the Asian Development Bank and was responsible for about $7 billion of development lending a year. As a career diplomat from 1976-2006, Larry enjoyed two assignments in the US Embassy in Tokyo, postings in the Philippines and Singapore, and a variety of other jobs, including a term as US Ambassador to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group. Larry is concurrently Senior Advisor to the Bower Group Asia, a DC-based consulting firm advising corporations on government policy and regulations, and a non-resident Senior Adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, one of the most prominent think tanks on international issues in Washington, DC. Larry holds a BA from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida and an MALD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts. He speaks and reads Japanese.

Venue Generously Provided by Dentons US LLP.