The Land of Black Gold — Editor’s Note for Friday, Dec 9, 2022
A note for Weekly newsletter readers from Jeremy Goldkorn.
Dear reader,
Xí Jìnpíng 习近平 has been schmoozing in Saudi Arabia, meeting not only the Saudi King and Crown Prince, but also a number of leaders from other Arab states.
He assured regional leaders that China was a reliable customer for its oil and gas, and said he would like to pay in yuan, a move that would support Beijing’s goal to establish its currency internationally and weaken the U.S. dollar’s grip on world trade. (That won’t be so easy — listen to or read the transcript of this week’s Sinica Podcast for a highly informed chat about China’s attempts to internationalize its currency.)
Back at home in China, the Communist Party held a funeral for former leader Jiāng Zémín 江泽民, the anti-COVID-lockdown protests have fizzled out, and the government has all but abandoned its COVID-zero policy. Many experts are predicting a wave of COVID deaths, but no one really knows what is going to happen, epidemiologically or politically.
As the fake old Chinese curse has it, we live in interesting times.
Our phrase of the week is: Profiteering at a time of national crisis (发国难财 fā guónàn cái), which is how some COVID testing companies are being described on Chinese social media.
