“Involution-style” competition; Q&A with the Minister of Housing; UK-China "Golden Age" 2.0?; Qiushi on US NSS; Renewed crackdown on tutoring?

It is a bit of a slow day, and thankfully I now do not have to write about what a US invasion of Greenland might mean for Taiwan.

President Trump renounced using force in his long Davos speech earlier Wednesday, and has now announced there is a framework of a deal so there will not be any new tariffs on the EU. PRC policymakers are likely not happy with these developments, as much of the US focus on Greenland concerns China and the Arctic, and while Trump’s threats have strained US alliances, they have not broken them.

Today’s top items:

1. Ten typical cases of “involution-style” competition - To demonstrate its efforts to crack down on “involution-style” competition [“内卷式”竞争], the State Administration for Market Regulation released details of “ten typical cases”, in “key areas such as the platform economy, new energy, consumer goods, and advertising”. For the photovoltaic industry, the SAMR said that “through advance warnings, policy coordination, and guidance interviews, the SAMR pre…