Opinion | Hong Kong’s health diplomacy could debunk idea of China turning inward

China’s recent third plenum highlighted the importance of making the country a champion of innovation through generating disruptive technology and scaling up into high-end manufacturing. Many, however, focused on doubts over China keeping its doors open and questioned if it was too focused on national – or political – security.

Even before the meeting of China’s top leaders had concluded, pessimism had surfaced over the possibility of concrete and effective solutions to revitalise China’s economy, as suggested by a Brookings Institution commentary. After the plenum, the Cato Institute uploaded a video of a talk by Johan Norberg titled: “The Paper Tiger: Why China Won’t Fulfill Its Potential”.

In it, Norberg, a Swedish author and historian, points to the “large-scale return of authoritarianism and the planned economy” in China under President Xi Jinping, suggesting the country was moving away from the free market and international society.

Meanwhile, the British Royal Institute of International Affairs – better known as Chatham House – warned that the “progressive sagging of private sector ‘mojo’ in the past few years is important to bear in mind as a root cause of the Chinese economy’s current slump”.

Coincidentally or not, around the same time, the Peterson Institute for International Economics published a piece questioning whether manufacturing can still provide inclusive growth. And the Council on Foreign Relations, based in New York, continues to push the narrative that China is engaged in a cold war with the United States.