"We have an absence of diplomacy. But you’re absolutely right, there needs to be respect. The Chinese at least really care about respect. And I wish there was just a bit more cultural fluency, and I think a lot of things would be so much easier between the two countries, just understanding that because you can actually push China to do a lot of things, all within reason that would work in favor of the US, but understand that respect is vitally important. Face-saving is very, very, very important."

"From a purely economic and rational level, you’d say immigration is very important because it keeps the prices down, keeps inflation down, it keeps up the supply, which is very important when you have that much demand. And look, the standards of living have also improved for many people who can afford it. The low-cost workers being able to sustain the service economy. So I understand both sides of the story. I think that in the end, it is a balance. And I do believe even as an economist, that social harmony, and I come back to this word harmony repeatedly, even though as an economist, this thing doesn’t even exist, is becoming ever more important."

"That short, flat, fast attitude, which was so popular, especially before the pandemic, that’s actually somewhat disappearing, so in some sense, this economic downturn is not that bad for China, because it made the Chinese realize that it’s not always going to go up, and it made them really look down deeper into what they really should be focused on, that there will be cycles, there will be up and downs, and so these very short-termist thinking and opportunistic way of driving business will ultimately fail. It’s bad for China that we’re having a sustained economic softness, but I think it’s also a very, very important lesson for the Chinese people to go through. Growing up in China"