ITK Daily | August 2

Happy Tuesday.

To be ITK, know this:

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands in Taiwan: She is spending the night and will meet with Taiwanese government officials tomorrow (Wednesday) morning.

Taipei City, Taiwan, is 12 hours ahead of Washington, DC | Eastern Time Zone

TW ?? US: Taiwan’s tallest building in Taipei: "Speaker Pelosi. Welcome to TW. Thank you. TW ?? US."

Read this: Nancy Pelosi: Why I’m leading a congressional delegation to Taiwan WP OpEd

Pelosi becomes the highest US elected official to visit Taiwan in more than 25 years

Beijing summons US Ambassador: US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns was summoned by China’s Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng. China’s government is expected to deliver solemn representations and strong protests against Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese government.

@AFP: #UPDATE China vowed Tuesday to launch "targeted military actions" in response to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, as tensions flare between Washington and Beijing

With Pelosi landing on Taiwan, this is a Chinese Foreign Ministry failure: This geopolitical event is a good reminder of how poorly the Chinese are at government relations and advocacy on Capitol Hill.

Nearly all Chinese engagement in Washington, DC is focused on the White House

26 US Senators from both sides of the aisle released a statement of support for Pelosi's Taiwan visit

Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang spoke to CNN's John King live on his show, Inside Politics

Read this: Fast facts about Americans’ views of China-Taiwan tensions Pew Research

Pro-tip: Don't fall for the line that the White House + Team Biden didn't want this Pelosi visit to Taiwan.

@AaronBack: Pelosi's visit to Taiwan risks provoking a barrage of mixed metaphors from Tom Friedman

Read this: 3 big problems vex China’s economy—and complicate Xi Jinping’s plans for a third term: ‘People in China are clearly unhappy with the state of the economy’ Fortune

+ “People in China are clearly unhappy with the state of the economy,” says Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “And many see the problems as driven by [the government’s] misguided policies.”

+ Roughly 7% of Chinese citizens own stocks, compared to 56% in the United States. Chinese households, meanwhile, store 70% of their wealth in real estate, twice as much as Americans

+ About one-fifth of Chinese homes—roughly 65 million units—stand empty, an oversupply that resulted from a real estate market of distorted incentives

+ “It’s not actually that Chinese citizens are becoming bolder,” says Alfred Wu, a Chinese politics professor at the National University of Singapore. “Housing is just a life-or-death issue for Chinese families…they spend so much money on it.”

+ The biggest drag on China’s economy this year, and the one policy that Xi may have the most direct control over, is COVID zero

+ In the second quarter of this year, Shanghai’s economy shrank by 14% year on year, a $21 billion contraction in the city’s economy

+ China’s vice premier Li Keqiang and the pro-liberalization side of the Chinese government have gained power as China’s economy has lost its footing and may challenge Xi’s singular dominance in a third term

Read this: A Pelosi trip to Taiwan would test China’s appetite for confrontation: Xi Jinping has long vowed to answer any challenge to China’s claim to Taiwan. But current economic and political forces may make him unlikely to court a crisis. NYT

+ Xi Jinping has long vowed to answer any challenge to China’s claim to Taiwan

+ But current economic and political forces may make him unlikely to court a crisis.

+ "Looking tough toward the self-ruled island is essential for political survival in the ruling Communist Party."

+ for now, at least, the Communist Party’s prominent newspapers have not published editorials about Ms. Pelosi’s possible visit that would signal a significant escalation

AP source: US weekend strike in Afghanistan killed top al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

@paulmcleary: A US official says the US got Zawahiri because he liked to stand outside on his balcony in Kabul. That's where two Hellfire missiles fired by a drone got him.

London calling: The latest YouGov / Times poll of Conservative Party members shows a whopping 34-point lead for Liz Truss.

60% Truss

26% Sunak

Hot topic: The return of the Parthenon sculptures held by the British Museum. The British Museum wants to make a deal and end two centuries of resentment with Athens — what’s changed their mind? The Times

The IEA Report: Global Supply Chains of EV Batteries: "Ensuring future growth will demand greater efforts to diversify battery manufacturing and critical mineral supplies to reduce the risks of bottlenecks and price rises." Report here.

+ To meet the projected demand by 2030, the world will need 50 more lithium mines, 60 more nickel mines, and 17 more cobalt mines

Forbes has tapped Citibank to explore a possible sale in the wake of its SPAC collapse.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri to relocate to London.

Read this: Cold-plunging with Maine’s ‘Ice Mermaids’ NYT

+ A photographer in Maine has been documenting groups of women who submerge themselves in near-freezing water

Read this: Why music, especially old music, can tap into our deepest, most meaningful life memories. New CBC radio special Music To My Ears looks into the powerful, social link between music and memory. CBC

+ According to MRC, a music sales data provider, old songs made up 70 percent of the American music market in 2021. That's an increase from 65 percent in 2020

The Silly Season | Brigadoon Radio: On the latest episode of Brigadoon Radio, Gerald Ashley and Marc Ross discuss Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, the internal politics of the People's Republic of China, the UK Conservative Party leadership election, the status of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the Vogue Magazine photoshoot of Olena Zelenska, German energy use going forward, the snap election in Italy, and what they are reading and watching. Watch here.

Watch: The Hard Knocks with Detroit Lions trailer here.?

Read this: Bill Russell, the Man Jason Gay @ WSJ

+ The blunt legacy of a legendary teammate and champion

Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.

-Marc?

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