Xi signals tighter information controls; Xi going to Europe; Xinjiang white paper

Aloha! As I mentioned earlier I am in Hawaii for a couple of weeks and so the timing of the newsletters may be a little off from normal but I will be still be writing them, though some days, like today, they may be shorter than usual.

Some of the things on my radar this issue:

• Xi Jinping will pay state visits to Italy, Monaco and France from March 21 to 26;

• Xi is ramping up ideological controls even more, the latest examples being a symposium he convened in Beijing for teachers of ideological and political theory and the publication in the latest issue of Qiushi of some of his comments on integrated media development at the January 25 Politburo study session field trip to People’s Daily;

• The South China Morning Post reports that the Trump-Xi summit to close the trade talks may not happen until June;

• The State Council issued a white paper on Xinjiang defending its policies;

• In an article on the flagging US efforts to convince allies to block Huawei from their 5G networks the New York Times …