On the morning of May 27, 2024, the International Business School invited Professor Zhang Honglin, tenured professor in the Department of Economics at Illinois State University, USA, to deliver a special academic lecture titled "Global Geo-economic Fragmentation and the Chinese Economy" in Lecture Hall 1329, Wenlan Building, Chang'an Campus. Faculty members and students, along with Dean Professor Lei Hongzhen, attended the session for learning and exchange. The lecture was chaired by Professor Zhang Shuhui, Vice Dean.

Professor Zhang Honglin began his presentation by discussing popular research topics in international trade in recent years, including trade wars, tariffs, global value chains, digital trade, and e-commerce. He analyzed the major controversies surrounding international trade theories and proposed the view that geopolitical conflicts are driving global geo-economic fragmentation, thereby revealing the rationale behind the US push for economic decoupling. By constructing a four-dimensional model of Sino-US geopolitical and economic relations, he explored potential directions for China's trade countermeasures. During the Q&A session following the lecture, Professors Zhang Shuhui, He Lin, and Wang Yuying engaged in a lively discussion with Professor Zhang on issues such as how China can accelerate the construction of a "self-centered" industrial chain system in the context of Western efforts to decouple and sever links, and how to compete and cooperate with Western-dominated global value chains.

Professor Zhang Honglin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Colorado and is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University. He is currently a tenured professor in the Department of Economics at Illinois State University, USA. His academic appointments include serving as Associate Editor of the English-language academic journal The Chinese Economy (USA) and editorial board member for three other academic journals, Research Advisor at the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), and two-time Vice President of the Chinese Economists Society (CES). Professor Zhang's research areas encompass multinational corporations and foreign direct investment, innovation and entrepreneurship, innovation management, industrial structure optimization and upgrading, international trade and finance, and urban-regional economic development. He has published over 100 papers in international academic journals and academic monographs, as well as five English-language academic books.