FILE PHOTO: A staff member wearing a face mask walks past United States and Chinese flags set up before a meeting between Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, Saturday, July 8, 2023. Mark Schiefelbein/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
A few days ago, the Harvard Business School Asia Pacific (HBS AP) Board meeting took place in Jakarta. As we were halfway into our discussion on the global economic issue concerning how the US-China decoupling playoff would impact businesses in Asia, a fellow board member seated next to me alerted me to the breaking news of China’s former Premier Li Ke Qiang’s untimely demise.
I had the privilege of meeting with the late Premier Li back in 2015 and I would fondly remember his legacy as the master architect that introduced his “Internet Plus” policy, aimed at driving economic growth through integrating the Internet, cloud computing and big data with traditional industries transforming them as the core pillars of a digital economy.
