What Xi Said is a weekly rundown of the top ten emerging issues from the past seven days shaping US-China commercial relations.

What Xi Said is for global communication strategists and C-Suite executives.

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Memo: What Xi Said | Edition 5 | February 8, 2021

1. Biden's China policy hinges on how much Xi is willing to give: Xi doesn't share very much about his thinking on US policy. He rarely ever even mentions the US by name. As with so much else in China, we're stuck parsing Xi's comments, dissecting his actions, and making some educated projections. China is often whatever you want it to be.

2. Biden said China would face "extreme competition" in the latest sign of Sino-US tensions. Biden said his administration would hold Beijing accountable for its "abuses" and human rights record. Biden told CBS News: "I've said to him all along that we need not have a conflict. But there's going to be extreme competition . . . I'm not going to do it the way Trump did. We're going to focus on international rules of the road."

3. Boris Johnson's closest adviser helped broker China's purchase of its new embassy in London — while being paid both by the property firm representing Beijing and the developer that sold the site. The embassy, covering 700,000 square feet, will be one of the world's largest diplomatic headquarters, rivaling America's recently opened fortress further down the Thames.

4. Biden administration eyes Rahm Emanuel for an ambassadorship: The former White House COS and Chicago could get a high-profile ambassadorship, potentially to China. Becoming the US ambassador to Japan is another option. Look for more top Democrat talent focused on the Indo-Pacific.

5. China's car sales surged in January from the low base of a year earlier. Retail sales of passenger cars rose 25.7% to 2.16 million vehicles last month compared with the same time a year before, the China Passenger Car Association said Monday, the strongest growth since September 2016.

6. Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO and adviser at Alphabet, and other tech all-stars call for US-China tech "bifurcation." The idea of "decoupling" specific sectors of the US and Chinese economies felt radical three years ago, but now the strategy has growing bipartisan and even industry support.

7. After 25 years of operation, IBM has shut its Chinese research institute, one of 12 the company has worldwide. The closure is described as the end of an era and another signal of a tech 'Cold War.' The IBM closure is symbolic, given how long the company has been active in China. In 1995, IBM was the first multinational to establish a China R&D center.

8. HNA was once China's most prominent dealmaker. Now it faces bankruptcy. NYT reports, China is tightening the reins on its economy and looking out for companies that could pose risks to China's financial system. Plus HNA's lenders are pushing for bankruptcy, the chairman and co-founder have been stripped of power, and nearly $10 billion of its money has been embezzled.

9. Bytedance takes over Spring Festival Gala sponsorship: It will serve as the state broadcaster's exclusive "interactive" partner for the Chinese New Year's Eve show. The company is hoping the exposure will expand the reach of its new payments feature on its app Douyin (globally known as TikTok). Bytedance's push into financial services underpins its growing e-commerce.

10. Chinese short-video platform Kuaishou was started by an ex-Googler and has a "broadcast yourself" philosophy. The 10-year-old company's shares spiked 200% from its IPO price, giving the firm an opening market value of more than $180 billion. Kuaishou is the first short-video platform from China to go public. Despite its aggressive valuation, it is not even the most prominent player.