And we are back…

Apologies for the absence, I thought I would able to do a handful of updates during my vacation with some work but after learning more about Sinocism’s profile there I decided it was best to save publishing for my return. Apologies also to those who wanted to meet in Beijing but it didn’t work out.

Today’s issue is a brief note of some of my takeaways, Monday will return to the more familiar format.

US-China — While we have no public idea what if anything happened at Beidaihe, I heard consistently that the key theme of any discussions about US-China relations that may have occurred was whether it made sense to find a way to make concessions to the US without looking weak, or whether the trade pressure is just one piece of a multi-dimensional strategy to “thwart China’s rise”. Before you dismiss the idea that President Trump could be strategic remember that there are some very knowledgeable, “hawkish” and experienced “China hands” working in key parts of the bureaucracy…