China just told the US what it's not allowed to talk about, one day before Xi lands in Washington.
Ambassador Xie Feng laid out four "red lines" in People's Daily on September 23:
1. Taiwan,
2. Democracy and human rights,
3. China's political system,
4. Its "development rights.
He told Washington to stop using "national security" and "forced labor" as excuses to constrain China.
The timing isn't subtle. Xi arrives for a three-day visit the same day, with the main summit on September 24. A separate People's Daily piece a day earlier called Taiwan a "guardrail" for the relationship and warned the US to handle it with "utmost caution."