China is reportedly considering turning the Great Firewall into a two-way barrier by blocking overseas traffic to Chinese websites. If fully implemented, this could effectively transform the internet in China into a giant intranet, where the only way to access critical data from government agencies, universities, and companies may be to physically go to China. This further reinforces a point I have been making for some time: the urgent need for China experts in the West to strengthen their ability to read between the lines of official propaganda and uncover the realities hidden behind the official narrative.

For those who didn’t get it, the plan is simple: Gulf states pay to maintain security in the Gulf, just as European states pay to maintain security in Europe, so that the US can free up more of its resources to focus on its biggest strategic rival.

Age-shaming is another tactic China has long used, which is why Xi always stresses that China is “the only civilisation in the world that has continued uninterrupted into the present.” But that narrative lost quite a bit of credibility after he had former President Hu Jintao — who is 11 years older than him — forcibly escorted out of the Great Hall of the People in full public view.

France has bad movies and China has bad policies. What they have in common is that you have to pay out of your own pocket to participate. The difference is that: 1. You can walk out of a bad movie anytime, but not from bad policies; 2. With bad policies, you are the one who bears the real consequences — unlike with bad movies.

I would have had more sympathy for the EU if it were saying this four years ago — or even one year ago. But at this point, the EU has largely only itself to blame. Since China’s WTO accession, China’s share in EU imports has risen from under 10% in 2001 to more than 22% by 2025, while the EU’s share in China’s imports has fallen from roughly 12% to 8%. Yet the EU has done remarkably little in response. And the EU did not need new policy instruments to act. Four years ago, the Ukraine war gave the EU the perfect opportunity to sanction the biggest supporter of Russia, but it chose not to. One year ago, the Liberation Day tariffs and the ensuing bilateral negotiations gave the EU the perfect opportunity to join the Reciprocal Trade Agreements, which included provisions to align with the US on economic security issues and take action against China without bearing the political blame. Again, the EU chose not to. Instead, the eurocrats in Brussels keep rolling out one new instrument after another without any real intention of using them. The result is that the EU has become a laughing stock in China — like the kid who keeps showing off shiny new stationery to the class without ever sitting down to do the homework. China may not actually think in centuries, but when the EU moves at such a glacial pace, relatively speaking, China ends up looking like it does.

So Trump arrived in Beijing on the 13th, which is the unlucky number in the US; His main event took place on the 14th, which is the unlucky number in China. Meanwhile, Putin's main activities will be on 5-20, aka the Cyber Valentine'd Day because it sounds like "I Love You" in Chinese. I'm sure these are all pure coincidences.

The biggest myth is that China plays the long game and "think in terms of centuries". Just to name a few recent counter-examples: the disastrous one-child policy, abrupt ending of COVID-zero, and the crack-down on tech firms.

A lot of people are taking Trump’s “I’m not looking for that” comment to mean that the US would not support Taiwan in a war. That’s totally wrong. He said almost exactly the same thing in 2019 when asked about war with Iran — and we all know what followed. As adults, there are many things you don’t “look for,” like getting up early every morning. But when the time comes, you still do what needs to be done.