Politburo study session; Australian FM in Beijing; More on the Manus mess and AI; Chongqing corruption

It is a slow day, China is heading into the May Day holiday mode. I will send out this week’s episode of Sharp China tomorrow, but unless something particularly interesting is going on, I will not resume regular newsletters until May 5, when the holiday is over.

Today’s top items:

1. Politburo study session on Disaster Prevention, Mitigation, and Relief - At the 20th Politburo’s 25th collective study session Tuesday, Xi Jinping told the leadership to do more on disaster prevention, mitigation, and relief, linking that work to his “high-quality development and high-level security” line. Yang Siquan of the Emergency Management Ministry’s Natural Hazards Institute gave the lecture.

Xi noted China’s size, complex geography, and varied climate make disasters a constant problem. He credited the Party since the 18th Party Congress with handling a string of major disasters and laid out seven things to adhere to: Party leadership, putting people and life first, respecting nature, prevention firs…