CCDI Communique; Xi Thought on the Party's self-revolution; Taiwan; US-China; Maldives

Summary of today’s top items:

1. CCDI Plenum communique - The Plenum communique is out. There was one addition to the focus areas for anti-corruption work from Xi’s speech Monday- tobacco, an industry that has already seen many cases of corruption in recent years. The communique said “Prioritize the punishment of corruption involving collusion between government and business as a key area of the tough battle, deepen the rectification of corruption issues in finance, state-owned enterprises, energy, tobacco, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure projects, and bidding and tendering, and resolutely punish corruption that affects the people. Concentrate on rectifying cross-border corruption issues”. It also appears there may be a new variant of Xi Jinping Thought. “The important thought of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the Party's self-revolution 习近平总书记关于党的自我革命的重要思想” appears four times, and the communique calls it “a new chapter of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics …