Xi at Davos; Party thinker on breaking US stranglehold on technology; CCDI Plenum may make finance execs nervous

Today’s Essential Eight items:

1. Xi’s speech to Davos

2. Party think tank head on tech independence from the US

3. WHO and Covid-19 origin struggle

4. Vaccine struggles

5. Epidemic management into the Spring Festival

6. Fifth Plenum of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI)

7. US-China

8. Taiwan

Thanks for reading.