Summary of today’s Essential Eight:

1. Taiwan - No updates on whether or not Pelosi is going, more warnings from the PRC side but nothing surprising yet.

2. Outbreaks - Based on official data the country has so far avoided large scale new outbreaks. The CDC gets a new leader as Gao Fu ages out, and Science Journal published a peer-reviewed study arguing the evidence is very strong that the outbreak originated from animals in the Huanan market in Wuhan.

3. Xi meets Indonesian President - The US sends a general to Indonesia while the Indonesian President Widodo goes to Beijing to talk about all sorts of trade and economic cooperation. Widodo invited Xi to the November G20 meeting in Bali, no word if he accepted to attend in person.

4. More signs US-PRC audit deal unlikely - Reuters spoke to sources in the US PCAOB who shot down the “tiering” idea floated in the Financial Times Monday. Unless the PRC side agrees to all the PCAOB's terms it looks increasingly unlikely that there will be a deal to keep …