Shanghai and New York Forge Deeper Financial Ties at Bloomberg Forum
Financial leaders from Shanghai and New York convened at Bloomberg headquarters in New York on June 30 for the third season launch of “Our Water: Flowing from Shanghai – Intercultural Dialogues Among World Cities,” a forum focused on strengthening financial cooperation between the two global financial hubs and exploring pathways for international investment in China. The event, themed “Rivers of Opportunities,” drew more than 200 guests from business, culture, academia, and government, as The Paper reported.
Context: A Dialogue Built on Water
The “Our Water” series, initiated by the Shanghai Municipal Government, is a flagship global city dialogue program that pairs Shanghai with a different world city each year. Season 1 (2023–2024) connected Shanghai with Paris along the Seine, Season 2 (2025) linked Shanghai with London on the Thames, and Season 3 now brings Shanghai and New York together along the Hudson River. The New York forum marked the first time Shanghai extended international financial cooperation discussions overseas following the 2026 Lujiazui Forum, according to China News Service.
The forum followed the historic China-US summit in Beijing in May 2026 between the two heads of state, which Tang Zhiwen, Minister at the Chinese Embassy in the United States, described as providing “strategic guidance for China-US relations” and bringing “new opportunities for exchanges and cooperation across various fields.”
Key Developments: Leaders Call for Deeper Collaboration
Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies, set the tone in his welcoming remarks. “Great cities don’t just compete with each other – they learn from each other,” Bloomberg said. “As the world’s challenges grow more complex, cities are increasingly taking the lead in tackling them. Today’s dialogue is an opportunity to share ideas and strengthen collaboration between Shanghai and New York.”
Chen Yiqun, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Information Office, emphasized the natural bond between the two waterfront cities. “Water is the common gene of Shanghai and New York,” Chen said. “Now these two waterfront cities are using water as a medium to jointly explore a sustainable development path for the future.” She noted that interactions between Shanghai and New York — from mayoral visits to exchanges in public health, urban development, and culture — “continue to translate into tangible results.”
Mary Schapiro, Vice Chair of Bloomberg, stressed that international cities must continue to provide “the systems, confidence, talent, market access and connectivity that allow businesses and investors to operate with greater purpose and certainty,” as Yicai reported.
Analysis: A Shift in How Global Investors View China
The forum’s finance roundtable, moderated by Bing Li, Chair of Bloomberg Asia Pacific, featured a candid discussion among leading economists and strategists on the changing landscape of investing in China. The conversation moved beyond simple optimism or pessimism, instead exploring five dimensions: change, profitability, sentiment, channels, and cooperation.
Zhang Yidong, Chief Economist at Haitong International Securities, argued that investors need new frameworks for assessing China’s economy. He predicted that the Q2 2026 GDP deflator may end its negative streak, with nominal GDP growth potentially exceeding real GDP growth. He pointed to AI, advanced manufacturing, and innovative drugs — particularly integrated circuits, optical modules, robotics, and new energy vehicles — as the new drivers of China’s economic transformation.
Li Xiaowei, Vice General Manager at Fullgoal Fund Management, noted that A-share P/E ratios remain significantly below those of the S&P 500 and Nikkei 225, suggesting valuation discounts that may not reflect the growing global competitiveness of Chinese companies. She cited CATL’s H-share premium over A-shares reaching 56% as evidence that international capital is beginning to recognize specific companies rather than applying a blanket “China discount.”
Leena Das, Head of Asia Sales at Bank of America, observed a notable shift in investor sentiment. She described the trajectory as moving from viewing China as “uninvestable” to highly optimistic after DeepSeek’s emergence, and now settling at a more neutral position. Das noted that investors are increasingly moving from macro-driven cyclical trading to bottom-up stock selection, focusing on Chinese companies entering the global AI supply chain.
Financial Opening: From Access to Risk Management
Peng Song, General Manager of the Financial Markets Department at SPD Bank, highlighted the rapid expansion of China’s bond market, which exceeded 200 trillion yuan by May 2026. Foreign institutions held 3.21 trillion yuan in interbank bonds, while Bond Connect daily trading volume has grown approximately 20-fold since 2017, from 2.2 billion yuan to roughly 47 billion yuan. New measures discussed included an offshore RMB forex trading pilot in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, a central bank repo facility for foreign monetary authorities, and expanded QFII/RQFII scope to include commodity futures, options, and treasury futures.
What’s Next: Building on the Dialogue
The New York program will continue for a month with various cultural and business events, including a Huangpu River and Suzhou Creek-themed exhibition, a trans-Pacific philosophy dialogue, and a Jing’an central activity zone exchange with Chinese and US entrepreneurs. As City News Service reported, the forum was positioned as Track II diplomacy to complement official government relations, leveraging city-to-city ties to maintain channels of communication between the US and China.
Bing Li captured the spirit of the dialogue in his closing remarks: “China and the US are both interested in each other, yet still don’t know enough about each other. Perhaps we can never fully understand, but we must continue to communicate and keep getting closer to an ideal state.”
The forum signals China’s continued push to attract foreign investment despite geopolitical tensions, with Chinese financial authorities moving beyond simple market access to providing sophisticated risk management tools for international investors. Whether improved sentiment will translate into actual capital inflows remains an open question — but the dialogue itself represents a significant step in maintaining the financial arteries between the world’s two largest economies.