Editor’s note for Monday, November 1, 2021
A note for Access newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn. Today: Xi Jinping has still not left China since January 2020, and contributed only by video at the G20 and merely wrote a letter to the COP26 climate change summit. Is he mostly being cautious about COVID-19 ahead of a CCP plenum on November 8-11?
My thoughts today:
Xi Jinping has not left China since he returned from a trip to Myanmar in January 2020, just before China went into COVID lockdown. He did not make an exception for last weekโs G20 summit in Rome, and addressed the meeting by video.
He did not do video at todayโs COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, but contributed a letter (in English, Chinese prรฉcis) that offered no new commitments, but reiterated Chinaโs responsible actions in the fight against climate change and called on developed countries to โnot only do more themselves, butโฆalso provide support to help developing countries do better.โ
The New York Times and its sources suggest a number of reasons why Xi, who used to spend so much time gallivanting around foreign lands, is staying at home. But surely the most compelling explanation is also the most obvious: Why take the risk of getting COVID? The Party plans to hold a key meeting on November 8-11 that will likely further prepare the way for Xi to remain Chinaโs supreme leader for the foreseeable future โ why take the chance of not being around to make it happen?
Our word of the day is Disneyland ่ฟชๅฃซๅฐผไนๅญ dรญshรฌnรญ lรจyuรกn.
Upcoming events:
- November 4: Reading the Red New Deal: How Xi Jinping is remaking Chinese education.
- November 10: Day 1 of the 2021 NEXTChina conference is online and FREE for everyone to attend from anywhere. Be sure to reserve your spot now!
โJeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief
