Iran war; US-China; Xi meets KMT chair; Li on the economy; Countering unlawful extraterritorial jurisdiction measures

Apologies again for missing last Thursday. I had to spend most of the day getting my mom checked in to the hospital. I am hopeful I can get back to almost normal work schedule this week. Thanks for your understanding.

Today’s top items:

1. Iran war - China is obviously not happy with the US blockade of ships leaving Iranian ports and transiting the Strait of Hormuz. It is not clear what they can do to stop the US, and, a prolonged blockade of these ships, a fair number of which are destined for China, would add even more stress on the PRC economy.

The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) is in Beijing for a visit, but the readout of his meeting with Premier Li gives no indication of what they really discussed about the war. Wang Yi met with his UAE counterpart who accompanied the Crown Prince, according to that Xinhua readout, Wang said:

China fully understands the reasonable security concerns of the Gulf Arab states and supports the UAE in safeguarding its national so…