Xi has completed another inspection tour, this one to Henan. The full propaganda rollout is just starting. Xi again stressed self-reliance and improving and upgrading China’s manufacturing sector, a point he also made at the central committee for deepening overall reform meeting on September 9. It looks like Xi is both preparing for US-China decoupling while simultaneously trying to delay it as long as possible and make it as expensive as possible for the US.

I imagine one of Liao Min’s key tasks for this week’s working-level trade talks in DC is to give the US side enough hope for progress to prevent President Trump from blowing a gasket before the big October 1 National Day Holiday.

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