Sounding confident going into 2021; Politics in command; BRI not dead; 2021 foreign policy priorities; Tesla China

Happy New Year, I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday.

It is always hard to restart the newsletter after a break, I know I have missed some things from the last two weeks but will try to fill them in over the next few days if it looks like they still matter.

Today’s Essential Eight items:

1. Sounding confident going into 2021

2. Politically correct foreign journalists wanted

3. Wang Yi lays out 2021 foreign policy priorities

4. Politics in command

5. EU-China investment deal

6. Controlling the hunt for the origins of the coronavirus

7. Is Tesla exploiting its Chinese workers while producing shoddy cars?

8. BRI is not dead

Thanks for reading.