🌍 Xi and Zelensky hold their first war call

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Hi there Intriguer. Our co-founder Helen will be at the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner tomorrow night!! We can already picture her and POTUS seated together, high-fiving after his tight stand-up set, then kicking on for shots at the French ambassador’s residence. Too ambitious?

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Today’s briefing is a 3.9 min read:

• 🇨🇳 Digging deeper into the Xi–Zelensky call.

• 👔 Samsung’s shocking quarterly profits.

• ➕ Plus: American Pie (Korean style), how the papers are covering evacuation efforts in Sudan, and some ideas to get you whistling into your weekend.

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🎧 Today’s Intrigue Outloud: Inside the world’s favourite dictatorship.

Listen here!

🗺️ AROUND THE WORLD

1. 🇨🇳 China: Police have questioned the Shanghai staff of US consulting company Bain & Co. The incident is fuelling concerns among foreign nationals working in China.

2. 🇬🇧 UK: Microsoft’s president has declared the EU “a more attractive place to start a business” than the UK, after British regulators blocked Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar acquisition of gaming giant Activision.

3. 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea: US President Joe Biden is expected to visit Papua New Guinea next month, the first such visit by a sitting US President. Biden’s trip is intended to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.

4. 🇪🇨 Ecuador: President Guillermo Lasso (no relation) is planning to launch the biggest debt-for-nature swap in history to protect the famous Galapagos Islands. The scheme is becoming increasingly popular among nature-rich countries.

5. 🇹🇷 Turkey: Concerns about President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s health peaked on Wednesday after he unexpectedly cut short a live TV interview and cancelled plans the following day. He’s campaigning hard to improve current opinion polls and get re-elected in May.

🇨🇳 CHINA | GEOPOLITICS

Zelensky (L) and Xi (R) shared their first war-time phone call on Wednesday.

Xi finally takes Zelensky’s call

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Briefly: Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky have held their first call since the start of the Russo-Ukraine War.

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The two sides’ differing readouts from the call make for interesting reading:

• Ukraine’s version details the “devastating consequences” of Russia’s invasion, while China doesn’t mention “Russia” or “war” (just a “crisis”)

• China says it’s “on the side of peace”, while Ukraine says nobody wants peace more than Ukrainians, who are exercising their right to self defence

• And Ukraine urges against supporting Russia, while China says it’s neither adding “oil to the fire” nor profiting from it (a dig at the US)

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Why did Xi take the call now? No one knows for sure, but theories include:

• To shape the EU’s new China policy process, which started this week

• To delay or influence Ukraine’s counter-offensive on Russia, and/or

• To curb the fallout from Xi’s envoy dropping a clanger on French TV

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Intrigue’s take: Talking is always good (unless you’re in a cinema). It’s revealing.

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Zelensky revealed his ability to tailor a message: his “unwavering” support for the One China policy was just what Xi wanted to hear. Yet it also shone a light on Xi’s refusal to return the favour (ie, acknowledge Ukraine’s own territorial grievances).

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As for Xi, his avoidance of words like “Russia” or “war“ revealed the opposite: a refusal to tailor the message, hinting at the depth of Beijing’s alignment with Moscow. This would’ve been tough (though not surprising) for Zelensky to hear.

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All in all, Zelensky said it was a “long and meaningful” chat. We’re assuming that’s shorthand for “long overdue” and “full of meaning for everyone watching”.

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Also worth noting:

• Zelensky has been calling for direct talks with Xi Jinping since August.

• Last month, Xi travelled to Russia to meet Putin. It was their fifth known contact since the war began, and their second in-person meeting.

📰 GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

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How different newspapers covered: Ongoing efforts by governments to evacuate their citizens from Sudan, where rival military factions continue to battle for control.

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Links:  The Telegraph, CNN, Saudi Gazzette.

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Today’s briefing is sponsored by Margaritaville

Winners will be announced next week!

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We are teaming up with a couple of amazing newsletters to send one of our subscribers on an all-expenses-paid trip for two to the Riviera Maya in Mexico! The competition is being run by our friends over at the women-led sports newsletter, The Gist, and is entirely free to join!

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We’re so jealous that if we could rig the competition to win it ourselves, we absolutely would. Don’t miss out on your chance!

Find your beach.

👔 SOUTH KOREA | BUSINESS

Samsung’s profits almost disappear

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Briefly: South Korean electronics giant Samsung has seen a 95% drop in profit this year, hitting its lowest quarterly earnings since 2009.

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Samsung enjoyed record profits in recent years as pandemic lockdowns drove folks to buy more gadgets. But that demand has collapsed now that the lockdowns have lifted, inflation has spiked, and interest rates have jumped.

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Intrigue’s take: 95% is a high number for any company, let alone the world’s largest memory chip supplier. It’s higher than Snoop Dogg on April 20th.

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Slower demand is one part of the story, but the emerging chip wars may be warping the supply side too, as governments around the world offer incentives to shore up their own chip-making capabilities. So something tells us Samsung won’t be the only chip-maker to face wonky earnings reports ahead.

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Also worth noting:

• Two of Samsung’s smaller competitors posted big losses recently. 

• The US has asked South Korea not to fill any market gap in China if Beijing goes ahead with a ban on American chip-maker, Micron.

👀 EXTRA INTRIGUE

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For those not joining Helen at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner tomorrow night, Team Intrigue has got you covered with some solid options. If you have:

• 5 mins: Read this article on China’s social media translators and their quest to bring Chinese users a taste of the outside world.

• 30 mins: Make these Filipino crispy cabbage rolls to entertain guests, or just eat them in front of the TV. Speaking of which…

• 50 mins: Check out The Diplomat, Netflix’s new geopolitical drama about a career diplomat unexpectedly thrust into the action. Reviews have been pretty solid, but let us know what you think!

📹 VIDEO OF THE DAY

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South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol grabbed a mic and sang the Don Mclean classic “American Pie” to an astonished audience at the White House state dinner.

“I had no damn idea you could sing,” Biden told his counterpart. wapo.st/442KwRf

— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost)
1:04 PM • Apr 27, 2023

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Samsung execs might not be singing with glee, but South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sure is. He took the occasion of a state dinner at the White House to belt out a pretty good American Pie on Wednesday!

🗳️ QUIZ TIME!

1) Which of the following nicknames were used for a British Prime Minister?

a) The Iron Lady b) The Human Hand Grenade c) Theresa Maybe d) All of the above

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

2) Which of the following nicknames did critics of US President Andrew Jackson use to mock him?

a) Andrew Goatson b) Jackass c) Donkey Dru d) The mule

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

3) State propaganda has referred to Xi Jinping by which nickname?

a) Big Daddy Xi b) Papa Xi c) Grandpa Xi d) All of the above

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

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Answers: 1-d, 2-b, 3-d

✏️ CORRECTIONS CORNER

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Yesterday’s infographic on the US nuclear umbrella predated Finland’s accession to NATO on 4 April. Sorry, Finland! And thanks to John for pointing it out.