CCTV FOLLIES 11.3 FLOWERS AT TIANANMEN BUT NOT FOR LI

Xi steamrolls the news -Xi phones it in to Olaf Scholtz -Xi pens a letter! -Greek PM gets tag-team treatment -Gaza city encircled -Hamas guerilla footage -US ups aid to Israel, not Ukraine!

No flowers for Li Keqiang at Tiananmen. Today’s special floral tribute is for the PLA’s fallen soldiers, appreciatively provided by visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who readily complies with requirements of Xi-directed state visit protocol.

Greek needs money and is willing to go through the motions, so it was granted a coveted audience, much like that granted to an appreciative Gavin Newsom last week.

Xi dominates the top half of the news, yada yada, here seen meeting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Watching CCTV’s coverage you have no doubt who did most of the talking, though the Xi-centric camera crew also captures his unusual reliance on notes in this session, so he’s looking down most of the time.

Next up, Xi has an e-meeting with Germany’s Olaf Scholtz. It looks pretty good on TV, which is all that matters at CCTV, but it’s also a real money saver and reduces the ridiculous carbon footprints of summits where the cumulative cast and crew can number in the thousands.

Xi talks and talks with FM Wang Yi, Hua Chunying and a few others at the table.

Xi emphasized that the current international situation is undergoing great changes with intensified geopolitical conflicts and sluggish economic recovery and resurgence of the Cold War mentality. Xi called for win-win cooperation and multilateralism.

-Xi pens a letter promoting friendship!

“Sister provinces/states and sister cities are important platforms for deepening friendship and achieving win-win cooperation.”

-Li Qiang discusses rare earth strategy in State Council

Kyriakos Mitsotakis gets the VIP treatment. Xi hands him off to Li Qiang, and Li Qiang hands him off to Zhao Leji. The division of labor all adds up to one state visit.

Greece pays tribute to the CCP’s fallen soldiers, despite the PLA’s bloody history.

What if Japan starts requiring foreign visitors to do this at the Yasukuni war shrine?

Zhou Tienong, a nominal KMT representative on the mainland has died. The airtime given in his remembrance almost matches that given to former premier Li Keqiang, who got only two terse announcements in prime time. (And one tightly-orchestrated official funeral over which Xi presided front and center.)

A welcome panda and swag in bags on chairs lined up in anticipation of the Sixth China International Import Expo.

Installation of the Linglong reactor at the Changjiang nuclear plant in Hainan,

Foreign news again dominated by Gaza. CCTV calls it the Israel-Palestine conflict but it’s mostly about the Israel-Hamas war, and Hamas does not represent Palestine.

“IDF surrounds Gaza City, Palestinian armed group launches major counterattack”

Hamas footage of guerilla attacks and Gaza citizens in distress.