Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law; Hong Kong; Central Policy Research Office; Australia is to blame

Now we know why the latest issue of Qiushi published excerpts by Xi on “law-based governance”. The central conference on work related to overall law-based governance was held yesterday and today in Beijing. Among the things that jumped out at me in the official readout from the meeting:

1. Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law 习近平法治思想, capitalized in the official Xinhua English translation. There appears to be Xi Jinping Thought for everything, and at some point it gets hard to remember them all and so logically it should be shortened to Xi Jinping Thought 习近平思想;

2. Xi said it is “necessary to speed up the strategic layout of foreign-related rule of law work, coordinate and promote domestic and international governance, and better safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests. 习近平强调，要坚持统筹推进国内法治和涉外法治。要加快涉外法治工作战略布局，协调推进国内治理和国际治理，更好维护国家主权、安全、发展利益.

“Development interests” is not a new concept but one that appears to be getting much more prominent (see the October 21 Sin…