Plenum decision; China wants US tariffs removed; Xi's CIIE speech; More TikTok disclosures

The relevant authorities released the Plenum decision Tuesday, so far there is no official English version, in my initial read I did not see anything surprising given what what came out last week. That may change with a closer read.

Sinocism readers will not be surprised by the news that China has made removing existing US tariffs a key point for reaching a phase one deal (see the October 24 newsletter “Fourth Plenum; China pushing for all tariffs to be removed before phase one deal?; Business environment”).

Taoran Notes, which given its author’s ties to Liu He should be taken very seriously, issued two pieces today reiterating that removing those tariffs is China's most core concern and saying that if the US wants to keep on all existing tariffs there will be no deal, but the current tariffs do not have to come off all at once, just proportionately.

Global Times editor in chief Hu Xijin pushed the same message on Twitter earlier today: