Ben Simpfendorfer is Chief China Economist for the Royal Bank of Scotland. He was previously Senior China Economist for JPMorgan Chase. He has lived in Hong Kong for nearly a decade where he writes for a global investor audience. He started his career in the Middle East and has lived in Amman, Beirut, and Damascus. He appears regularly on CNBC and Bloomberg, and his editorials have appeared in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, and Foreign Affairs.
Simpfendorfer is one of the world’s leading experts on relations between China and the Middle East. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and Syrian Arabic. Every year he travels thousands of kilometers to meet with a wide range of individuals, from senior officials in Beijing to local traders in Cairo. He reads media ranging from Chinese-language blogs to Arabic-language newspapers in order to examine the changes taking place in the Silk Road economies. His book, The New Silk Road, offers an unparalleled view of a rising Arab world and its strengthening relations with China.
