Xi and Trump at the UN; 18 years for Ren Zhiqiang; Mass labor in Tibet

Xi Jinping and Donald Trump both speeches to the UN that were critical of each other’s country. Xi avoided mentioning the US by name but it was clear who he was talking about. He also said lots of things the audience wanted to hear, as he did at Davos in 2017.

Trump mentioned China 11 times in his short speech, again blamed China for the pandemic and said the UN must hold China accountable.

It might be time to review the US-USSR history at the UN…

In what can only be described as a shockingly long sentence, Ren Zhiqiang was given 18 years in jail for various corruption-related offenses. His real crime of course was criticizing Xi and his response to COVID-19 earlier this year.

This outrageous punishment sends a stark message about the costs of going against Xi, no matter who your parents were or which senior officials you may have once been close to. Ren is a medium-level princeling, had been tight with Wang Qishan, none of that could protect him from perhaps spending the rest of his l…