Cases peaking?; Retaliation against travel measures; CCDI Plenum; Alibaba and Ant are out of the storm; US-China
Summary of today’s Essential Eight:
Cases peaking? - Officials in multiple regions say cases have peaked, but there is still no good data on deaths, and worries continue to grow for rural areas.
Retaliation against Covid travel measures - The PRC has halted issuing visas to South Koreans and Japanese, in retaliation for what the PRC says are discriminatory Covid-related travel measures. Qin Gang spoke with his South Korean counterpart Monday and brought up the entry restrictions on travelers from China. So much for a charm offensive?
CCDI Plenum Communique - The CCDI Plenum Communique is out, platform companies will be pleased, financial sector firms, and perhaps their patrons, and SOEs perhaps not so much. As noted in yesterday’s newsletter for things to watch for in this communique, there is one mention of "capital 资本", identical to what was in Xi’s speech, but no mention of "platforms 平台", unlike in the communique from last year’s January Plenum. Consider this another sign that the wo…