Midcoast Forum on Foreign Relations

Xi Jinping seeks “high quality” rather than “high speed” growth, he told the Chinese Communist Party’s Third Plenum, held last week to decide the country’s economic policy over the next five years. Some observers say this is simply rationalizing the Chinese economy’s problems—enormous government and corporate debt, an inflated property sector, and disappointing growth in private and household consumption—which have gotten worse under Mr. Xi’s watch. Others counter that Mr. Xi is doing the right thing by focusing on high-tech sectors such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence, aeronautics and renewables to underpin a high-quality growth model.

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