PUTIN AND XI MEETING: Western media asleep at the wheel + Taiwan Policy Act

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, in Xi’s first overseas trip since COVID began nearly three years ago. The two held a discussion on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan. But Western media and pundits are honing in largely on just one part of the dialogue, where President Putin said he understands China’s “questions and concerns” over the Ukraine crisis, which is apparently the first time they’ve ever heard that China isn’t a warmonger, despite China saying openly and clearly every single time they have been asked that they do not support conflict. In other news, two US senators are seeking to pass a new Taiwan Policy Act that ultimately aims to smash the past 40 years of China-US relations in one move. The proposed bill, which still faces a few hurdles before being passed into law, is basically designed to push conflict in multiple ways, including making tweaks to current laws that will allow the US