Biden-Xi call; Plenum spirit and the “Two Establishes 两个确立“; Coal and COP26; Data protection

The Biden-Xi virtual meeting happens in just over an hour. The Biden Administration is making clear that expectations should be low. I would not be surprised to have some new working group discussion mechanisms come out of the call, just do not call them “strategic dialogues”. And do not call this virtual meeting a “summit”.

We are still awaiting the public release of the historical resolution. It has only been less than a week since the Plenum concluded, I would not read to much in the time lag, so far still very much within the normal range of time between the conclusion of a Plenum and the public release of the related full documents. I think they want it disseminated and studied by cadres before the full public release, to better help guide the public in how to talk and think about the resolution. We are certainly seeing a large amount of commentaries, readouts and speeches about to understand the spirit if the Plenum, so the post-Plenum propaganda campaign is just getting started…