On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the rejected pitch from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to meet with Defense Minister Li Shangfu this weekend. Topics include: The importance (and limits) of maintaining ongoing military backchannels, why the U.S. push for a meeting was more complicated in this case, and a postscript to last week's questions about America’s response to the silent treatment from PRC diplomats. Then: A report that the Chinese envoy sent to broker peace has urged EU countries to denounce America and demand a ceasefire in Ukraine, and ominous language surfaces in the readout from the National Security Commission. At the end: Elon Musk’s travels inspire a look at Tesla's activity in the PRC, the 16-year journey to a C919 passenger jet and celebrations on a Beijing runway, Microsoft's malware discovery, and a word about energy supply lines in a Taiwan conflict.
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