People’s Leader and the Plenum; US-China climate action declaration; H-20; Coal; Real estate

Word has been going around DC today that the Biden-Xi virtual meeting is scheduled for evening of Monday, November 15th DC time [Politico just confirmed this.]. I am also hearing that among the outcomes will be at least one if not several “dialogues”. This is not confirmed, so take it as somewhat informed speculation at this point.

Today the US and China issued the “U.S.-China Joint Glasgow Declaration on Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s”. The document is light on specific commitments but it does announce a new joint US-China working group and is positive for building momentum in the fight for climate action.

This declaration, the Biden-Xi meeting and its possible outcomes will likely lead to speculation that the US-China relationship has at least hit a near-term “bottom”, even if it is very fragile. The structural contradictions are deepening and it is not clear that China has changed its behavior or conceded anything since January 20 to get the relationship back on the “correct…