Editor’s note for Monday, July 26, 2021

My thoughts today:

In Tianjin today, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met Xiè Fēng 谢锋, the number five foreign ministry official who is responsible for U.S. affairs, and also Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅.

Chinese officials gave Sherman a lists of steps they said the U.S. needed to take to improve relations, while Sherman “raised Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong and human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as Beijing’s provocative actions in the Taiwan Strait and malicious activities in cyberspace,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Nothing may have been achieved, but nothing went terribly wrong:

China’s wolf warrior spokesperson Zhào Lìjiān 赵立坚 said: “On the whole, the talks have been profound, candid and helpful for the two sides to gain a better understanding of each other’s position and seek healthy development of China-U.S. relations going forward.”

U.S. officials told the WSJ that the “purpose of the visit was to provide ‘guardrails’ for the U.S.-China relationship to ensure it doesn’t spill over into conflict.” Nobody’s fired any guns yet, so by that measure the visit was a success.

Of course, things can always get worse, and they probably will. Economist Stephen Roach, who has been something of a permabull on China, told CNBC that Beijing’s moves against companies, including many that are listed in the U.S., were “disturbing” and could represent the “early stages of a cold war.” For the latest news on the regulatory onslaught on Chinese companies, see our top story below.

But perhaps things are looking up for Chinese-born scientists in the U.S. where visa fraud charges have been dropped against five researchers. For more on the recent failures of the Department of Justice’s China Initiative and one scientist whose fate may be decided this week, see our new story by Yiwen Lu.

Upcoming events:

• July 29: Traditional medicine and our modern world.
• November 10-11: Registration for the The China Project 2021 NEXTChina conference is now open!
  • Day 1 is all online — attendees can register and attend from anywhere for free.
  • Day 2 is an in-person event in New York City with limited capacity, so be sure to reserve your ticket early.

Our word of the day is list of wrongdoings that need correction (纠错清单 jiūcuò qīngdān).

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief