Editor’s Note for Wednesday, May 25, 2022

My thoughts today:

Much of today’s news is about the ongoing low level irritation and confrontation between China and the West, particularly — of course — the United States.

Things are pretty grim in the U.S.-China relationship. Some blame Beijing — I am often in this camp, while some blame Washington D.C. — my colleague Kaiser tends to be on this side of the argument. Whichever side of this argument you find yourself on, you can surely agree that things are not copacetic.

But here’s a data point for you: Today, for the first time that I can remember since 2016, there are some sweet words directly attributed to Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 about his time in the United States in 1985. Xinhua today reported:

Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently replied to a letter from Sarah Lande, a friend of his in the U.S. state of Iowa.

In his letter, Xi noted that he visited the beautiful state of Iowa twice, and has forged an indissoluble bond with the city of Muscatine.

The Chinese and American people are both great people, Xi said, adding that their friendship is not only a valuable asset, but also an important foundation for the development of bilateral relations.

Our word of the day is Iowa (爱荷华 ài hé huá, or to make sure you’re understood, Iowa state 爱荷华州 ài hé huá zhōu).