Wang Huiyao

In recent years, Wang has been frequently seen at high-level international conferences speaking about pressing issues like China and globalization, global governance, international trade and investment, global migration and talent, as well as think tank development. He was a co-host and main speaker at the China-themed events of the 2019 and 2020 Munich Security Conference that brought together influential policymakers like former US Secretary of State John Kerry and former chairperson of the National People's Congress Foreign Affairs Committee Fu Ying. He was invited as a panelist at the 2019 Rhodes Forum in Greece by the Dialogue of Civilization Research Institute, and won the 2019 Munk Debates on whether China is a threat to international order. For two consecutive years, he was selected to present global governance innovation proposals at the Paris Peace Forum. Wang spoke about the future of the Eurasia at the 2019 Astana Club annual meeting, and discussed at the 2019 Athens Democracy Forum by the New York Times. He was also a keynote speaker at a session on China-foreign relations of the Economist’s World Trade Symposium in 2019. He brought China’s perspectives to the discussion about the Korea Peninsula at the 2019 International Forum on One Korea, and shared his idea about “Belt and Road” initiative and China-India relations to the 2019 Growth Net Summit in New Delhi.

Wang has actively advocated for “Track II” diplomacy to increase China-foreign academic and business exchange, and has joined and held a number of dialogues between Chinese and US think tanks and research institutes. During the recent visit to the U.S., he joined the 2019 CSIS China Power Conference and co-hosted the Brookings Institution podcast with David Dollar on China's economic development. He was one of the main speakers at Hudson Institute’s seminar on U.S.-China Trade Relations and Challenges in 2018 joined by Hudson President Ken Weinstein, who was invited to visit CCG in 2019 to continue with the discussion. In November, 2019, he also spoke at a US-China Business Council seminar to discuss with American business community about impact of decreasing US-China investment on global economy. His delegation was also received by the Wilson Center to have dialogues with American scholars on the bilateral trade relations in 2018.

Wang has published nearly 100 books and hundreds of articles and papers in both Chinese and English on various topics including global trade, global governance, global migration, China outbound and inbound investment, overseas Chinese, and Chinese think tanks. His latest English books include: Handbook on China and Globalization (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019), China’s Domestic and International Migration Development (Springer, 2019), and China Goes Global: How China’s Overseas Investment is Transforming Its Business Enterprises (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016).

Wang is a central committee member of the Jiusan Society, one of the country's eight legally-permitted minor political parties subservient to the Communist Party of China. According to a statement by the CCG, Wang is also vice chairman of the Western Returned Scholars Association, which is under the jurisdiction of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China. In 2018, Wang's affiliation with the United Front Work Department attracted the attention of Senator Marco Rubio and sparked subsequent discussions of government influence with think tanks.

Wang plays multiple policy advisory roles in China, as a Counselor for the State Council appointed by Premier Li Keqiang in 2015, and honorable Vice Chairman of China Association for International Economic Cooperation (CAIEC) under the Ministry of Commerce. Wang also holds a number of positions in international organizations and educational institutions. He is steering committee member of the Paris Peace Forum, and a member of the Migration Advisory Board of International Organization of Migration (IOM) of United Nations. He is also the Dean of Institute of Development Studies of China Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and a member of the Duke Kunshan University Advisory Council.

Wang Huiyao became one of those who were enrolled in college after the entrance examination system was re-instituted in 1977. After graduating from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, he worked as an official in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation a couple of years (now Ministry of Commerce). Then, he went on to study abroad and received an MBA from the University of Windsor in Ontario Canada. Afterwards, he obtained his PhD degrees at the University of Western Ontario and University of Manchester. Meanwhile, he worked a number of years in Canada's business sector, including serving as Chief Trade Representative for Quebec Government Office in Hong Kong and Greater China.

Huiyao (Henry) Wang (Chinese: 王辉耀 ; born July 2, 1958) is the founder and president of Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a non-government think tank in China, which is ranked among the top 100 think tanks in the world.