Editor’s Note for Wednesday, June 29, 2022

My thoughts today:

Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 likes to present himself as a manly fellow: He famously said that “nobody was man enough to stand up and resist” the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and he is thought to be the key driver behind the official campaign to make Chinese men and boys more macho.

But he has been something of a wimp when it comes to COVID-19: The Chairman of Everything has not left China since the beginning of the pandemic. Now his first visit outside mainland China after 893 days will be to Hong Kong, where his security services will make sure he does not run the risk of any kind of unpleasantness. See our top story today for details.

Our word of the day is nobody was man enough (竟无一人是男儿 jìng wú yī rén shì nán’ér).