Xi-Biden meeting; Xi at APEC and the G-20; PRC armed drones to Russia?; COP29; Another mass killing; Xi on population trends

Summary of today’s Essential Eight:

1. Xi-Biden meeting in Peru - Xi and Biden held their final meeting in Lima on Saturday. The most positive outcome from the meeting was that they both “affirmed the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons”. Xi laid out four red lines: “The Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, China’s path and system, and China’s development right 台湾问题、民主人权、道路制度、发展权利是中方的4条红线”. The Foreign Ministry in an explainer of the meeting said that in “the 2022 Bali meeting, he underscored China’s four red lines on the Taiwan question, path and system, democracy and human rights, and right to development”, but I believe this is the first time to state such a concise public summary of those “four red lines”. I do not imagine that the Trump Administration will pay much attention to any of them, other than Taiwan. The PRC side also appears to have added two “nos” to the list of four from the Woodside summit last year. The six nos are now “The…