Two meetings; US warning to PRC over Russia sanctions; "Empire of lies"; Omicron on the mainland

I do not have anything insightful to put into a commentary today. We are in a but of a lull as we await the end of the two meetings.

I do have an announcement.

Substack, the platform on which I publish Sinocism, has launched an app for iOS. I have been beta testing it for several months and love it, as it lets me read all the newsletters to which I subscribe in one place, avoid all the problems that can come from email delivery, and fix typos after I send out the newsletter, among the many benefits.

If you are interested in trying out the app you can click the button below:

You can also do nothing and nothing will change in the way you receive the newsletter.

Here is what Sinocism looks like in the app:

Today’s Essential Eight:

1. Two meetings

2. Decline of the West still a key theme

3. Ukraine crisis and a stark warning from the US to the PRC

4. Another day in the information war

5. Xinhua on the US as an “empire of lies”

6. Hong Kong outbreak

7. Omicron outbreaks in the mainland

8. More on the nickel blowup

Thanks fo…