Reform and Opening Anniversary Party Week, Central Economic Work Conference; McKinsey parties in Xinjiang

Hi everyone, I am back, though still sucking wind. Thanks for the nice notes from many of you, there is clearly something really nasty going around, hope none of you get it.

The is Reform and Opening Anniversary Party week. Xi is giving a speech at 10 AM Beijing time Tuesday that will be broadcast on CCTV and major Internet portals. Beyond the propaganda push, including more attacks on “vested interests” blocking reform, there have been messaging efforts to convince observers that Xi will be making some major announcements in his speech, including of measures that may move China much closer to acceding to many of the US trade demands, steps that would be spun as due to domestic imperatives as opposed to US pressure, the whispers say.

That would be great, but we all know that talk is cheap and that Xi has made plenty of reform promises, between the 3rd Plenum of the 18th Party Congress to multiple “important” speeches, including at Davos in 2017.

Whatever new reforms Xi may promise, doe…