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In This Issue
Vol. 25 Issue 39
“Preparing for War”: Xi on the Edge
- I. Xi’s Pivot
- II. The Uighurs
- III. Huawei
- IV. Chips
- V. The Belt and Road Initiative
- VI. The Military
- VII. Taiwan
- VIII. Summary
Quotes of the Week
On Our Radar
- The World Catches On to China’s Plans
- Violating Taiwan’s Territory
- A Real Global Leader
The INVNT/IP Digest
Ethermail
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As members will have heard by now, last week Chinese President Xi Jinping exhorted his troops at the Chaozhou Navy Marine Corps base in Guangdong to “put all [their] minds and energy on preparing for war.”
This was not the first time Xi has used such language, which was subsequently documented by the Epoch Times, a newspaper run by Chinese expats in the US and which I trust on only one issue: China.
But even the Epoch Times suggested that this time might just be different. I agree.
For the last few weeks, we had been planning an SNS issue discussing the two major trends that matter, that almost all global media is getting backwards. While telling us that China’s economy is booming and will help the world (WTO), and that the US economy is in the tank and staying there (almost everyone), our view is the opposite.
And here’s a nasty twist: before Covid, it was clear to us that China’s economy had been in a downward slide for 3-5 years, leading to increasingly bizarre and paranoid behavior by Xi. We also believe that whether or not the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) created the virus (we think it did, with gain-of-function funding from the US), it certainly then acted in ways destructive to the rest of the world. The economic result: Xi’s maniacal repression and control over his own people allowed control of the disease, and in its wake, he’s pushing hard to make sure that China’s resulting economic advantage will allow it to push global competitors aside in many industries, while their sick stay away from the workplace.
So, this moment is an exception to the above downward trend, caused by China.
All of which provides the foundation for this week’s discussion.
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