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China’s third plenum
ChinaDiplomacy
Shi Jiangtao
Opinion
Shi Jiangtao

Feeling besieged, security-obsessed China struggles to win friends and tell its story well

  • The Communist Party’s elite are battling to find a way to shore up international confidence and cope with risks

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Beijing is trying to balance development and security and the state and the market. Photo: AP
Shi Jiangtao
A former diplomat, Shi Jiangtao has worked as a China reporter at the Post for more than a decade.
Not surprisingly, the Communist Party’s much-anticipated third plenum did not end with the big bang last week, especially for those who had hoped for economic stimulus measures and groundbreaking structural reforms.

At the end of the four-day party conclave, Beijing did promise to deepen reforms in a wide range of sectors to boost the economy and root out corruption, while renewing a pledge to give the market a “decisive role” in allocating resources.

In a message clearly aimed at disgruntled foreign and Chinese investors, it also vowed to open Chinese markets wider and “create an institutional environment that is transparent, stable, and predictable”.

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But the meeting’s communique released on Thursday and a detailed document published on Sunday have so far failed to spell out concrete plans about how those lofty goals can be achieved.

And the party’s growing obsession with security in the midst of economic slowdown and external challenges may have also disappointed foreign and private firms looking for meaningful changes.
03:14
China’s Communist Party wraps up policy meeting amid growing uncertainties

Security was referred to 16 times in the 5,000-word communique, underlining yet again how Chinese leaders and officials feel besieged in the midst of the increasingly acrimonious US-China feud.

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