Editor’s note for Tuesday, September 14, 2021

My thoughts today:

Everything old is new again: The Chinese Communist Party today called for (in Chinese) “the construction of a civilized internet,” strengthened oversight over news organizations, and the promotion of core socialist values by online platforms.

The first “civilized internet” campaign was in 2006, when old-fashioned long-form bloggers were making the authorities uncomfortable with their influence over China’s then small internet population of only under 140 million users.

This is more about Trump than about China, but there is a bombshell revelation about the end of the Donald’s presidency and Beijing in Peril, a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa:

“In the days leading up to the 2020 election, the book reveals, American intelligence showed that the Chinese believed that Mr. Trump planned to launch a military strike to create an international crisis that he could claim to solve as a last-ditch effort to beat Joseph R. Biden Jr.,” reports the New York Times.

As a result, U.S. General Mark A. Milley “called a Chinese general twice to pledge the U.S. wouldn’t strike,” says the Washington Post.

Upcoming events:

• September 16: How to use your China skills to land a job at a think tank
• September 22: On China trade policy, states want more cooperation, less confrontation

Our word of the day is: Stay local for the holidays (就地过节 jiùdì guòjié) — see our top story today for details.

—Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor-in-Chief