An article by Vikram Khanna, Associate Editor of the Straits Times on September 23 said "Economist Teng Tai, President of the Chinese think-tank Winbro New Economic Thinking Institute, was quoted as saying in a report in the state-owned Securities Times: "China makes 10 billion hats, 10 billion pairs of shoes, 30 billion pieces of clothing and 200 million tablets and portable computers each year. It is not possible to sell them all in the domestic market." Vikram Khanna said companies would also need to change their products to cater to local tastes that are quite different from those in their export markets.

Identifying China's highly skewed income distribution as another problem, he quoted French economist Thomas Piketty as saying the share of pre-tax income held by the richest 10 per cent of China's population rose from 27 per cent in the late 1970s to 41 per cent by 2015, comparable to the levels of inequality seen in the US. While China is reckoned to have a 400 million-strong middle class, and more than four million US-dollar millionaires, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang revealed at a press conference in May that around 600 million people earn barely 1,000 yuan (S$200) a month. This, he said, is a major reason why the share of consumption in China's GDP is only 38.8 per cent, compared with 66 per cent of GDP in the US. Purchasing power, especially of lower-income workers, has been further eroded amid the Covid-19 pandemic. He said major reforms will be required for shifting income, wealth and purchasing power in favour of poorer groups will need major reforms and also more resources to be directed to the private sector