Today’s Essential Eight items:

1. What signals may there be in Xi’s letter to the Journal of Chinese Humanities《文史哲》?

2. Competing views of “multilateralism” at UN Security Council

3. WHO approves Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use

4. Territoriality integrity for the PRC, but not for Bhutan

5. Increasing global discourse power

6. Potemkin saplings in Kunming

7. Not nationalist enough

8. Meituan founder sees more trouble ahead?

Thanks for reading.