Xi meets in Finnish PM; UK PM arrives in Beijing, Zhang Youxia; Xinhua on ICE; School of Interstellar Navigation; H200 sales

At 6:30PM ET today I will host a Sinocism Live discussion with Drew Thompson who wrote about his interactions with Zhang Youxia in 2012, when he was Director for China, Taiwan and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in The demise of Zhang Youxia hits different.

I will post a recording of the discussion on Sinocism and in the podcast feeds later this evening.

Today’s top items:

1. Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli - There is nothing more in official media about the case, and otherwise it seems like business as usual. We are all left to speculate about what happened and what it means. We spent most of this week’s episode of Sharp China talking about this case; look for it in your inbox in less than twelve hours. This section includes some of the more interesting English-language discussion of the case I have found so far. We still have no idea what really happened.

2. Xi meets Finnish Prime Minister Orpo - Xi met Tuesday with Finland’s PM Orpo. According to Xinhua:

Xi pointed out …