Quarantine bus tragedy; Xi at the SCO; Biden on Taiwan; Real estate
Summary of today’s Essential Eight:
Chengdu reopens, deadly bush crash in Guizhou - Chengdu is fully reopening after a two week lockdown. Guiyang appears to have hit its political target of no new cases spreading in the community, but one of the ways they achieved that was by sending thousands of residents to quarantine facilities outside the city, and that policy has killed at least 27 people in a bus crash on a mountain road in the middle of the night. There is widespread anger over the crash, and the censors are working overtime to control the narrative. Guizhou Party Secretary Shen Yiqin is considered a top pick to replace Sun Chunlan for the woman's spot on the Politburo (sadly there never seems to be more than one among the 25, perhaps this Party Congress will be different but no signs so far) and given how close we are to the 20th it is unlikely that this Guiyang tragedy will hurt her prospects.
Xi at the SCO - Xi’s first trip out of China since early 2020 looked successful, I t…