Flooding worsens; New research center for Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy; Redistribution of Xiao Jianhua’s empire

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Friday open thread. We had a great conversation and I am thankful we have such a smart community of China watchers who can discuss difficult issues in reasoned and civilized ways. The Friday discussions are a regular feature for Sinocism subscribers and I hope more of you can participate, anonymously if want, in the future.

On Friday Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. It was noteworthy for the direct language Wang Yi used in attacking the United States. The South China Morning Post has some of the details:

China’s foreign minister told his Russian counterpart on Friday that the United States has “lost its mind, morals and credibility”, while saying Beijing and Moscow should work together on issues of global importance, like Covid-19 and regional security.

“The US has bluntly pursued its ‘America first’ policy, pushing egoism, unilateralism and bullying to the limit, and that’s not what a great powe…