Politburo meeting, 5th Plenum, protracted war; Hong Kong election; RIP Lee Teng-hui

The Politburo met Thursday and announced that the Fifth Plenum will meet in October and will “assess the proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year (2021-2025) Plan for Social and Economic Development and future targets for 2035”.

The readout of the Politburo meeting also stated that the members “studied the current economic situation..and made arrangements for the economic work for the second half of the year.” They clearly understand that the current situation is difficult:

Going forward, China will still be in a period of strategic opportunity for development, facing new opportunities and challenges, it said...

It said that the current economic situation remains complicated and challenging with unstable and uncertain factors.

Since many problems we face are long- and medium-term, resolving such problems is like fighting a protracted war, said the meeting...

The term “protracted war 持久战” of course comes from Mao’s famous 1938 essay “On Protracted War”.

Hong Kong officials disqualified …