China’s economic statistics can’t be taken at face value. This has been well understood among economists and investors for years. The country always tries to make them look better than they really are, reporting more or less inflated numbers. It’s been said that electricity-consumption numbers better represent the state of the Chinese economy than gross domestic product (GDP). Electricity numbers are more difficult to fudge than growth rates and, hence, closer to the truth, it is believed. This tendency to make themselves look better is attributed to a combination of a variety of factors: aspiration, inferiority complex, vanity, national pride, a big ego, etc. The Middle Kingdom has to be better than it is today, Communist Party leaders think. Otherwise, they would find it difficult to impose their will on other countries, especially those in the developing world. The tendency appears to have intensified the last 10 years, since Xi Jinping rose to the leadership, succeeding Hu Jintao. Xi Jinping is a great deal more nationalistic than his predecessors in the last few decades, without much tolerance for revealing China’s negative side to the world. Announcements of key economic numbers are delayed if they are believed to offend Xi Jinping ’s disposition, and these numbers could be trusted even less than those in the past. It is anyone’s guess how much deviation there is between the official size of the Chinese economy at $17.7 trillion and whatever the reality is, assuming reported growth numbers have been inflated for years....Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/business/costs-of-fudging-statistics-5529869
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) is seeking information from the U.S. Army on fortifying land-based missile defense capabilities in Guam given its “strategic importance,” which remains “highly vulnerable” amid escalating Chinese military aggression. Mr. Gallagher, who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), sent a letter to Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, pointing out that the United States has “significant gaps” in capabilities in defending Guam against China’s cruise missiles. Mr. Gallagher underscores Guam’s military significance, saying the small tropical island “plays an essential role” in defending U.S. interests in the Western Pacific region and its allies.... 
Taiwan and the United States are working on a possible in-person meeting between Taipei’s envoy to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and President Joe Biden this week, a senior Taiwanese official said. Taiwan appointed Morris Chang, the founder of chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, as its representative to this week’s APEC summit in San Francisco. Taiwan is aiming at having a one-on-one exchange between Mr. Chang and President Biden. “The two sides are discussing related arrangements,” Wellington Koo, head of the National Security Council, told reporters when asked about potential talks between President Biden and Mr. Chang during a briefing in Taipei on Tuesday....
SAN FRANCISCO—The arrival of Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping for the high-stakes meeting with his American counterpart has turned the Golden State into a beacon for protests. Dozens of activists and Falun Gong practitioners on Nov. 14 gathered near the Moscone Center, the venue where many Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings are being held, calling for an end to human rights abuses in China. In front of the St. Regis hotel where Mr. Xi will be staying through the week, several Chinese petitioners briefly got into a shouting match with throngs of red-capped, flag-waving Beijing supporters, with chants of “welcome” and “give me back my property” heard in turn....