China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met.

• Both diplomats described their first in-person talks since October as “candid”
• After the meeting, a US official said “neither side held back”.
• “We were very open about where our differences are … but the meeting was also constructive because despite the candor, the tone was very professional,” the official said.

Blinken said he raised concerns over Beijing’s alignment with Moscow.

• “I shared again with the state councilor that we are concerned about the PRC’s alignment with Russia,” Blinken told a news conference after the talks, referring to the People’s Republic of China.
• He said he did not think China was behaving in a neutral way as it had supported Russia in the United Nations and “amplified Russian propaganda”.

Info via CNN, posting for info. Its not like China Communist Party’s support for the Russian invasion is a secret.

Concerns are mounting over the risk of a full scale bank run in China.

• six banks across the Henan and Anhui provinces have effectively frozen deposits

Protestors outside People’s Bank of China branches across the region have been taken away by security forces

Washington Post:

• The protesters are among thousands of customers who opened accounts at six rural banks in Henan and neighboring Anhui province that offered higher interest rates. They later found they could not withdraw their funds after media reports that the head of the banks’ parent company was on the run and wanted for financial crimes.