Editor’s note for Tuesday, November 30, 2021

My thoughts today:

As Omicron brings fresh anxieties to the COVID-weary world, vaccines are on many of our minds. They’re also the center of two Chinese government messaging campaigns today: Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 is promising more vaccines for Africa, while health authorities in China are hoping to reach the country’s most unvaccinated population: senior citizens.

Read our top stories for details.

“Airbnb has more than a dozen homes available for rent in China’s Xinjiang region on land owned by an organization sanctioned by the U.S. government for complicity in genocide and forced labor,” reports Axios. “Airbnb is one of 14 top-level sponsors of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.”

Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal has more on the leaked documents that “detail Xi Jinping’s extensive role in the Xinjiang crackdown.”

War watch: Yesterday we published a piece titled “Why China is genuinely worried about AUKUS,” the Australia-Britain-America security pact, by Tuvia Gering. Today the Wall Street Journal says: the “Pentagon plans to improve airfields in Guam and Australia to confront China.”

Our word of the day is: About 20% of seniors have not received COVID-19 vaccinations. 20%左右老人未接种新冠疫苗 bǎi fēn zhī èrshí zuǒyòu lǎorén wèi jiēzhǒng xīnguān yìmiáo.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief