Wang Yi speaks with Canadian FM; Hong Kong; PRC-Japan; 2024 marriages up; Another Xi book

One of those days where I have had a really hard time finding anything interesting to write about, so today’s newsletter is thin.

Next week may be more interesting, there should be the March Politburo meeting, and whether or not there is a ceasefire in the Iran War, we may start seeing more data showing growing inflation pressures in China in areas reliant on imports affected by the war. We went into the year worried about deflation in China, the odds may be going up that inflation will now become a problem, at least on the producer side.

Today’s top items:

1. Wang Yi speaks with Canadian FM - Wang Yi continued his calls with counterparts around the world to discuss the Iran war. In a call today with the Canadian Foreign Minister he said, according to the Xinhua readout:

the Iranian nuclear issue should be resolved through dialogue and should not become a justification for the use of force. The abuse of force will only bring serious repercussions, and the spillover of the war threatens …