Description
TLC Zoom
Wednesday 15th April 2026Â @ 18:00 BST
The Challenge of China Revisited
Lord Mark Sedwill, Andrew Seaton Dr Paul G. Clifford, & George Magnus
TLC has a well established geopolitical forum and over the past few years we have considered the war in Ukraine, current American politics and both in August 2021, June 2023, December 2024 and lastly in June last year we also considered ‘The Challenge of China’.
So much has happened since then so it was right and proper that we return to the topic of China. Trump 2.0, Taiwan but what about President Xi’s purge of senior military and now the removal of 3 senior members of the state owned aerospace company who have also been removed from the National People’s Congress. What is going on?
There is therefore much to consider and we have a hugely well informed panel, Chaired by TLC Immediate Past President, Lord Sedwill to give us their insights, thoughts and views. We will welcome your thoughts too.
Mark Sedwill Baron Sedwill of Sherborne GCMG FRGS LLD
Mark Sedwill is Chairman of the Atlantic Future Forum and a cross-bench member of the House of Lords. He recently chaired a G7 Panel on Global Economic Resilience. He is a non-executive director of Rothschild & Co, Lloyd’s of London, and BAE Systems.
Mark was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service (2018-20), National Security Adviser (2017-20), Permanent Secretary at the Home Office (2013-17), and British Ambassador and NATO Representative in Afghanistan (2009-11). Before that he had a diplomatic and security career serving in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Cyprus, and Pakistan.
Educated at St Andrews and Oxford Universities, he is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and of the Institute of Directors, an Honorary Fellow of Oxford University and of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, and a Distinguished Fellow of RUSI.
He is President of the Special Forces Club, a member of the IISS Advisory Council, a Trustee of the RNLI, an Honorary Colonel in the Royal Marines and an Honorary Bencher of Middle Temple.
He is also the recipient of several awards and honours for national and international public service.
Andrew Seaton,
Chief Executive China-Britain Business Council
Andrew Seaton is Vice President of the China Britain Business Council, having been its Chief Executive from 2021- April 2024. The Council is the UK national business network advising and supporting companies doing business in and with China. From 2015 to 2020 he was the Executive Director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. Andrew is a Board Member of the Great Britain China Centre.
Prior to that he was a member of the UK Diplomatic Service, spending most of his career working on UK relations with, and policy towards, China. This included postings in Beijing and Hong Kong, and as Head of the FCO’s China Department. He was HM Consul General to Hong Kong and Macao 2008 – 2012. Other overseas postings included the USA and Senegal.
He was educated at the University of Leeds; and at Beijing University as a UK/China Exchange Scholar
Dr Paul G. Clifford
Paul is Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of The China Paradox. At the Front Line of Economic Transformation. He is also President of the management consultants Paul G. Clifford & Associates, LLC.
He worked in China as a corporate banker, as a strategy consultant, and with a global high technology firm where he drove strategy on smart and connected cities. He has advised both Chinese state-owned and private enterprises as well as multinational firms in China across a wide range of sectors. He has been a member of Chinese government advisory group.
He is an Honorary Fellow at the Foreign Policy Association. He has taught at universities in Mexico, the UK and the US.
He was educated at the University of London, where he received a Ph.D, and at Peking University. He is fluent in Chinese, classical and modern.
 George Magnus
George Magnus is an independent economist and commentator, and Research Associate at the China Centre, Oxford University, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, and a Member of the China Foresight Forum at LSE IDEAS.
George was the Chief Economist, and then Senior Economic Adviser at UBS Investment Bank from 1995-2016. He had a front row seat and key managerial position for multiple episodes of boom and bust in both advanced economies and emerging markets, including notable the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. George famously anticipated it in 2006-2007 with a series of research papers in which he warned of an impending Minsky Moment. Whilst at UBS, he served for four years as the Chair of the Investment Committee of the pension and life assurance fund.
He had previously worked as the Chief Economist at SG Warburg (1987-1995), and before that in a senior capacity before ‘Big Bang’ at Laurie Milbank/Chase Securities, and before that, Bank of America in London and San Francisco.
George writes and is cited regularly in media outlets such as the Financial Times, Times, the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, The Spectator, Bloomberg, the South China Morning Post, and The Wire China and is a contributor to UK and international TV and radio programmes. His written work in the public domain can be found on his website at www.georgemagnus.com
George’s current book, Red Flags: why Xi’s China is in Jeopardy was published in 2018 by Yale University Press, and then in paperback in August 2019 with newly commissioned material. It examines China’s rising systemic headwinds before and under Xi Jinping and challenges the notion of China’s inevitable rise. Much subsequent writing and analysis is on the website.
