Diplomacy Talk | Why does a healthier China mean a healthier world?

BEIJING, July 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A video by chinadiplomacy.org.cn on the global importance of Healthy China 2030 Initiative:

For three decades, Siddharth Chatterjee served the United Nations—and in China, he found a personal health transformation of his own. Five years on the ground as U.N. Resident Coordinator gave him a deep understanding of the underlying drivers of the country's development.

In this episode of "Diplomacy Talk," we sit down with Chatterjee, now CEO of Global Neighbours, to explore why building a healthy China matters for the world.

Following is the transcript of the interview.

Diplomacy Talk: You have lived and worked in many parts of the world, and China clearly holds a very special place in your journey. How would you describe your emotional connection with China?

Siddharth Chatterjee: My connection to China goes back to the time when I was born actually, not having come here. Because I was born in Chinatown in Calcutta, which is in West Bengal in India, and it's one of the oldest Chinatowns.

It was a fascinating moment to be born there, blending into a cross-cultural growth where there was Chinese food and Spring Festivals. There was Bengal, where I come from — the Bengali part of it. So, there was a mix of traditions, of philosophies, of environments into which I grew up.

And a lot of the Chinese had restaurants there. They had shoe shops there or they were just working in offices, and highly accomplished people. I got to see China through their eyes, through their stories, and growing up till age six and that was around the time when I went to boarding school.

And a Chinese shoemaker actually got me my first pair of leather shoes. Because the school required that. Nobody thought I would ever come to work in China. When I told my mother that I'm coming to China, she made me recall the pair of shoes I got and those shoes probably brought me to China.

Diplomacy Talk: You once described your five years in China leading the U.N. as the jewel in the crown of your 30-year career with the U.N. What made this chapter so meaningful to you?

Siddharth Chatterjee: I've been with the U.N. in some of the most complex, difficult and fragile parts of the world. But coming to China was a story from a fairy tale.

I came in during the 14th Five-Year Plan — the 14th Five-Year Plan was completely on track. Nothing slowed down, despite the COVID restrictions, and progress was being made. What it showed me was that here is a people that are diligent, that are disciplined, and that are desirous to prosper.

The ending of poverty, the lifting of 100 million people out of poverty by 2021 — China had achieved SDG 1 and 2 in full, feeding one fifth of the world's population with 9% of the world's agricultural land. Did you know that Africa has 60% of the world's agricultural land? It imports $300 billion worth of food — and China has just 9% and feeds 1.4 billion people. So, there's something to say about that.

The progress that China is making stands out. And what it showed me was that when a country, any country, invests in three things — No. 1 in human capital, No. 2 in infrastructure, No. 3 in business — they make progress.

You invest more in that child who has better nutrition, better education, better health, better opportunities, and that is why you have this large reservoir of engineers and doctors. As a result, the technological progress, the innovative progress that China is making is huge, and this perhaps is the model that we need for other countries aspiring to get out of poverty and make the same kind of progress.

Diplomacy Talk: Mr. Chatterjee, I recently read your new book, "My Five to Thrive." So, many people might expect a seasoned diplomat like you to write about diplomacy or international affairs, but your book focuses on health renewal and personal transformation. Was your personal transformation in China a matter of chance?

Siddharth Chatterjee: Well, the whole environment here allowed me to progress in that direction. It was, the traditions here, the knowledge of Kung Fu and Tai Chi, and the practices of health and wellness that I would see amongst communities around me.

And by then, I was reading and talking to my colleagues in the U.N. and particularly to the World Health Program about the Healthy China 2030 Initiative, and I said, if I have to contribute to it, I have to personally be at a supreme level of fitness. So I can tell others about the importance of this, and I wanted to kind of create this as a culture not only in my office but with my many friends around me. So this book essentially was a process that started in China.

Diplomacy Talk: You just mentioned the Healthy China 2030 vision, so why do you think this strategy matters not only for China but also for the world?

Siddharth Chatterjee: It's very important. Let's go back to the words of a great Greek philosopher. His name was Herophilus, and he said: when health is absent, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless and intelligence cannot be applied. We have nothing when we fall sick.

Let's recall the words of President Xi Jinping. What did he say? He said health is a prerequisite for a person's overall development. It is a prerequisite for a nation's economic and social progress. And if China can be healthy — this is 1.4 billion people — it impacts the global statistics, just the way as China ended poverty it impacted the global statistics, just the way China ended hunger it impacted the global statistics.

And it also inspires people that here is a country which rose from the ashes of tragedy, of abject poverty, of malnourishment, of having all the challenges — and was able to rise and reach a state of good physical fitness. That would inspire others to do the same.

Diplomacy Talk: China and India are both ancient civilizations, and today two of the world's most populous countries. So, if you had to describe the shared spirit of Chinese and Indian health wisdom in one sentence, what would it be?

Siddharth Chatterjee: One sentence would be difficult, but they have a shared philosophy for health. The practice of yoga, the practice of Tai Chi, the practice of Qigong. These practices were there and evolved in their own way, but they have many commonalities, and one of the key commonalities is how you breathe, or "huxi." It's the key part of that — it's the life force, the qi, which is predominant in it.

When you're looking at the global context and the complexity of geopolitics, I hope China and India find common ground. There's a lot of reasons for China and India to be working together. Progressing their respective populations and their collective wisdom can allow the rest of the world to flourish. When put together, this is a population of nearly 3 billion people. That's you know — that's a massive population size.

Diplomacy Talk: Mr. Chatterjee, with your years in China and your own health journey and your work across the U.N. system, what gives you the greatest hope for the future of global health?

Siddharth Chatterjee: Simply the fact that when you have leaders who put health at the primacy of their national agenda — just as China has done, India has done, and many others are doing — then you know that these leaders are determined to make their populations progress. That's very very important.

In the "two sessions," if you recall last year, obesity was identified as one of the key issues that China has to deal with. I'm glad they looked at obesity as a major issue, because once you start to tackle that, you start to tackle a range of chronic diseases that come from it.

So yes, absolutely, I commend leaders that are looking at their people's health and wellness. It's absolutely crucial for a nation's growth.

Diplomacy Talk
http://en.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/node_8028184.html 

Diplomacy Talk | Why does a healthier China mean a healthier world?
https://en.chinadiplomacy.org.cn/2026-07/29/content_118623106.html 

SOURCE chinadiplomacy.org.cn