Phase One deal timing; Belgian Confucius Institute head espionage allegations; Citizen morality construction

Happy Tuesday…Today is day two of the Fourth Plenum but there is no news about it. All we know is it will end October 31.

The timing of the signing of the mooted “Phase One” deal between the US and China is in some doubt now after Reuters reported that a US administration official said it may not be ready by the APEC meeting in Chile.

Hong Kong election officials have blocked Joshua Wong from running in the November district council elections. Are they hoping to cause more unrest that will lead to a suspension of those elections?

In what may be the first case of a Confucius Institute official being accused of espionage, Belgium has effectively expelled Professor Xinning Song, director of the Confucius Institute (CI) at the Brussels University. I will guess he was been found doing something fairly egregious for the Belgians to take such an action. This case will certainly feed the arguments that CIs are trojan horses with Chinese characteristics.

Thanks for reading.