The China Development Forum of 2016 provided a glimpse of how the Chinese economy and Chinese trade policies should shape up in the years to come. It comes at an interesting time, as it seeks to assure that Chinese policy makers are serious about easing clogged up trade policies and supply side reforms. But more importantly, it briefly gave a glimpse of what a world with Sino-American cooperation would look like, contrary to the popular perception of China and the U.S. heading towards an inevitable crisis.

The glimpse came in the form of a meeting between Facebook's Mark Zuckerburg and Alibaba's Jack Ma and in comments from Christine Lagarde, possibly the West's most pragmatic and prudent financial chief, and the esteemed Henry Kissinger. Kissinger's comments were particularly important, as he mentioned that the U.S. and China can and should work jointly to avoid the "Thucydides Trap," something which Western realists have said over and over again.

Business executives are obviously focused on the event. The talks of supply side economics and reforms have been in the air for the past five months, but it's time to see how concrete steps are being implemented to make the economy more competitive and open and to make the market more stable and domestic consumer oriented, opening Christine Lagarde echoed this sentiment, saying, "China is the midst of an historic transition which will transform its economy and deliver economic and environmental sustainability. This transition is good for China and good for the world." She added that the Two-Sessions and the current five year plan "clearly articulate President Xi's vision of the path to rejuvenate the Chinese economy." She encouraged Chinese planners to focus on three aspects: opening the economy, narrowing the wealth gap, and expanding innovations.

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