More indications US-China talks on hold; Recalibrating Belt and Road to better achieve the PRC's objectives; US can't get flu samples from China; Shaolin Temple shows its patriotism

Happy Tuesday...from the data it looks like lots of you are enjoying a vacation in the last week of August so I will try to keep this issue a bit brief.

The key things on my radar today:

• President Trump says now is not the time to talk with China;

• Monday's meeting for the 5th anniversary of the the Belt and Road clearly signals that Beijing is recalibrating the BRI to better achieve the PRC's objectives;

• It looks like China is about to officially end all birth limits, though do not expect any significant demographic trend shift as having more than one child in urban areas is just too expensive.

Thanks for reading.