Blinken to China?; Xi on desertification; Li Qiang to Germany and France; Economic concerns; Disappearing "Glory to Hong Kong"

Summary of the Essential Eight:

1. Blinken’s China trip reportedly back on - Bloomberg reports that the US and China have agree to reschedule US Secretary of State Blinken’s trip that the surveillance balloon blew up earlier this year. I believe this agreement was one of the outcomes of the recent US-China meetings in Beijing, as I wrote this morning on Notes:

I thought it was a mistake to cancel the original trip and am glad he will be going. It is very important that he goes before Yellen, Raimondo or Kerry.

2. Li Qiang to Germany and France - Premier Li Qiang is going to Germany for meetings starting June 18, then he will visit France and meet with Macron. The Chinese are working really hard to wedge those two countries away from the tougher US line, and but for Ukraine the PRC would probably be having much more success.

3. Xi talks desertification - Xi went to Inner Mongolia to inspect efforts to curb desertification. He held a meeting with leaders from Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gans…