Xi's Shenzhen speech; Canada-China relations; US warns about CCP influence in education; Huawei

Xi coughed through his speech in Shenzhen today. There were no real surprises in the speech, and now we have to wait to see he offered just more platitudes about reform or we will see something more robust.

As I wrote Monday, rhetoric aside, here we are 40 years after the creation of the SEZ and Beijing is still pushing reforms in special zones. But as I asked yesterday, perhaps external pressure, particularly from the US, has built up to such a point that once again it will be the fillip to force through more meaningful reforms?

There was no public report of Xi mentioning his father Xi Zhongxun by name during this southern tour, though he did refer to him by title in his speech:

1979年4月，广东省委负责人向中央领导同志提出兴办出口加工区、推进改革开放的建议。邓小平同志明确指出，还是叫特区好，中央可以给些政策，你们自己去搞，杀出一条血路来。

In April 1979, the head of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee [Xi Zhongxun] proposed to the central leadership comrades to set up export processing zones and promote reform and opening up. Comrade Deng Xiaoping made it clea…