Key Takeaways From Caixin Summer Summit

This year’s Caixin Summer Summit brought together many senior financial regulators and industry insiders to discuss a wide range of hot issues, including lessons from the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, central bank digital currencies and new infrastructure investment in China.

Below are key takeaways from speeches made at the summit, which took place last week in Beijing.

On the Covid-19 pandemic

The new coronavirus pandemic is not only a global health crisis, but also a global economic crisis, posing significant social and political challenges. It complicates relations between allies, impacts trade flows and intensifies scrutiny of supply chains. This time, there is less international coordination and cooperation than in previous crises. How countries deal with this crisis individually and collectively will shape the global landscape for many decades to come. (Video replay)

— Lui Tuck Yew, Singapore’s ambassador to China

The single biggest lesson from the pandemic is the enormous human, social and economic costs that came with being unprepared. If we learn this lesson now, we may be able to better respond to future pandemics with ongoing investments in the right tools, strategies and institutions. (Video replay)

— Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Indebted countries have to find their own solutions to their debt problems and cannot rely solely on assistance from the G-20, whose debt relief initiative was designed to alleviate difficulties that have been caused and aggravated by the pandemic. (Video replay)

— Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC)

Beijing’s efforts to contain a resurgence of the epidemic can serve as a model for other parts of China seeking to reduce the impact of future virus outbreaks on the general population to nearly imperceptible levels while maintaining normal economic activity. (Video replay)

— Zhang Wenhong, director of the infectious diseases department at Huashan Hospital

On economy and finance

Accelerating the construction of new infrastructure, which includes information infrastructure such as 5G networks, and deepening reform of the scientific and technological innovation system can help China participate in or even lead the fourth industrial revolution. (Video replay)

— Huang Qifan, vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges

Currently, digital currencies are not able to effectively tackle difficulties in goods trade or cross-border investment and financing, as they cannot address issues such as legal differences and information asymmetry between countries. (Video replay)

— Zhou Chengjun, director of the PBOC’s finance research institute

To restart its economy, it is critical for Hong Kong to restore social order and confidence. As long as it sticks to and improves the “one country, two systems” policy, firmly cracks down on lawbreakers who endanger national security, and makes good use of its advantages, Hong Kong can not only regain vitality, but also reach a higher level of development. (Video replay)

— Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, chief executive of the Hong Kong special administrative region

The time is ripe for Hong Kong to roll out derivatives linked to the Chinese mainland’s A-share market, as overseas investors need the instrument to manage risk from their investments there. (Video replay)

— Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission

ESG investing takes businesses’ corporate governance and impacts on the environment and society into account. Currently, there is no systematic mechanism for ESG information disclosure. It is worth discussing what ESG information public companies need to disclose to investors. (Video replay)

— Hu Jiafu, vice president of the Asset Management Association of China

Contact reporter Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)

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