Joe Horn-Phathanothai Featured in Longtunman's "Insights on New China Economy" Series
Our Founder and CEO, Joe Horn-Phathanothai, was recently invited to take part in the first episode of Insights on New China Economy, a new video series produced by Longtunman (ลงทุนแมน), one of Thailand’s most widely followed finance and investment media platforms. Joe was one of several guests featured in the episode, sharing his perspective alongside other voices interviewed for the series.
About the Episode
The episode opens with a question we think about constantly in our own work: is China’s current slowdown a sign of decline, or the beginning of one of the most significant transformations the country has undergone in decades? To explore this, the series travels through eight major Chinese cities, tracing how the country has repeatedly used periods of external and internal pressure — from war and economic crises to today’s geopolitical friction — as catalysts for reinvention rather than retreat.
Among the themes explored in the episode — drawing on insights from Joe and the other guests interviewed — are:
- The costly lessons that reshaped China’s development path
- How China has continually rewritten its own economic playbook
- The country’s rise as the world’s manufacturing base, and the “Made in China” strategy that followed
- China’s deliberate, long-term approach to technology development
- A case study on Midea’s evolution from home appliances into robotics
- The winding down of China’s era of cheap, low-cost manufacturing
- Where we see new investment opportunities emerging in a China that looks very different from the one investors are used to
For over two decades, Strategy613 has advised blue-chip corporates on cross-border investment between Thailand and China, so this conversation sits squarely within what we do every day. Joe’s segment in this episode draws on our firm’s track record advising organizations such as Makro, Kasikornbank, and ICBC on landmark deals, as well as on a family relationship with China’s leadership that spans three generations in our founder’s family, dating back to his mother’s upbringing under Premier Zhou Enlai in the 1950s.
We’re grateful to the Longtunman team for the opportunity to be part of this series.
Video courtesy of Longtunman (ลงทุนแมน), from the series “Insights on New China Economy,” Episode 1.
