Risk seminar concludes; China's Venezuela mess; Apple-Qualcomm dispute continues; Bing is back

Happy Thursday, here are some of the things on my radar today:

• My neck hurts from all the US-China trade talks whiplash. I wish everyone could chill out but that is not how the markets work. Be wary of leaks and “scoops”, what matters next is the the Liu He visit next week. The two sides are still far apart, but there are also 35 days until the March 1 deadline and I don’t expect any deal will truly happen until Trump and Xi meet again;

• The seminar on risks concluded on January 24. I had not realized it was four days long, certainly a sign of the intensity of concerns;

• Venezuela may be a nightmarish mess for China. Beyond all the money the country owes China the political turmoil touches several CCP neuralgic points, from popular protests to external pressure, and especially now when Beijing is so clearly concerned about the mounting risks in 2019;

• The PRC government has confirmed that it has detained Australian-Chinese writer Yang Hengjun on suspicion of endangering Chinese national secu…