Xi met Monday with Vietnam General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Xi has a busy week of meetings with visiting foreign leaders, with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arriving November 1; Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on a state visit from November 2 to 4 and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his business delegation arriving November 4. It is interesting that while Covid is surging and lockdowns are increasing Xi and other top leaders are trying to get back to a somewhat normal diplomatic meeting schedule.

Summary of today’s top items:

1. Xi on rural revitalization and the Red Flag Canal Spirit - After taking the new Standing Committee to Yan’an Xi continued on to other destinations in Shaanxi and Henan. Xi said that the “most challenging and arduous tasks we face in building a modern socialist China in all respects remain in rural areas” His visit to the Red Flag [Hongqi] Canal is interesting and his comments there seem directed at the concept of "lying flat" and to prepare …