China Considered

In a new episode of China Considered, Elizabeth Economy sits down with Jonathan Fulton about China's role in the Middle East. Recorded just after a ceasefire reopened the Strait of Hormuz, the conversation begins with the war's toll on the region and the sense among Gulf governments that, however reluctantly, they are doubling down on the United States as the only power able to provide security at...

In this episode, Elizabeth Economy sits down with former Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell to talk about his distinguished career, Indo-Pacific strategy, and the recent presidential summit in Beijing. They start by talking about Campbell’s early years in government, including his experience in military diplomacy negotiating with both the Chinese and Taiwanese. The two then discuss the curren...

In this episode, Liz Economy sits down with Sarah Beran, a veteran US Foreign Service officer who served across six administrations, most recently as senior director for China and Taiwan at the National Security Council under President Biden. Beran traces her career from post-9/11 stints in the Middle East and South Asia, discussing how working outside of China early in her career gave her a sharp...

In this episode of China Considered, Dr. Elizabeth Economy speaks with Randy Schriver and Mike Kuiken of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission about national security and economic policy towards China, and how the two are intertwined. They explain how the Commission monitors emerging risks, from advanced technologies like AI and quantum computing to vulnerabilities in supply chains...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Nadia Schadlow, former deputy national security advisor for strategy in the first Trump administration and author of the influential 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS). Schadlow reflects on how the NSS was architected around the shift toward great power competition and America's four core national security interests: protecting the homeland and way of life;...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Dr. Miles Yu, who served as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's principal China policy advisor during the first Trump administration, discussing his journey from experiencing China's Cultural Revolution to shaping US policy at the State Department. Yu explains his role in shifting American policy during the first Trump administration from transactional engagement...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Lingling Wei, Chief China Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, sit down for a wide ranging conversation on China’s purges, her personal story and look ahead to US-China relations for 2026. They begin with the recent ouster of General Zhang Youxia's from China's Central Military Commission and what it reveals about Xi Jinping's consolidation of power ahead of the 202...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Dr. Rowena He to explore her journey from participating in pro-democracy demonstrations during the 1989 Tiananmen protests to becoming a leading scholar on Chinese human rights. She recounts how the June 4th crackdown shattered her generation's hopes, forcing survivors to publicly conform while doing their best to keep the memory of the movement alive. The two...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Patrick McGee, Financial Times technology journalist and author of "Apple in China," discussing how Apple's deep integration into China's manufacturing ecosystem inadvertently helped build China into the industrial powerhouse it is today. McGee traces Apple's journey from near-bankruptcy in the late 1990s to becoming deeply dependent on Chinese manufacturing, e...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy talks with Dr. Bonny Lin about China's evolving security posture and military ambitions under Xi Jinping. Lin explains how China's goals extend beyond regional dominance to achieving global parity with or superiority over the United States, tracing major inflection points including South China Sea island-building, military reforms, and the strategic partnership with Russia fo...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy talks with Dr. Joanna Lewis and Dr. Scott Moore to explore China's commanding position in the global clean energy sector and its far-reaching implications. The two experts explain how China has become both the world's largest manufacturer and consumer of clean energy technologies, dominating supply chains from raw materials through finished products like solar panels, wind tu...

Host Dr. Elizabeth Economy interviews Dr. Chenjian Li, discussing the fundamental differences between the Chinese and US systems. He highlights China's rapid progress in biotech and pharmaceutical development, predicting the country may produce its first truly innovative drug within five years.  While the U.S. excels at "zero-to-one" grassroots innovation stemming from decades of basic research, C...

Host Dr. Elizabeth Economy interviews Yanzhong Huang, a leading expert on China's public health system, examining how China has evolved from the COVID-19 pandemic and its growing role in global health diplomacy. The two explore China’s dramatic policy pivots—from initial inaction to draconian zero-COVID lockdowns to sudden reopening—and analyze why meaningful domestic reforms and transparency rema...

Host Dr. Elizabeth Economy interviews Oliver Melton, who shares insider perspectives on China's complex economy, drawing from his years as a diplomat in Beijing and his current role at the Rhodium Group. Economy and Melton discuss how China's structural imbalances, high savings rates, and over-investment in real estate have created fundamental economic challenges that the leadership struggles to a...

Host Dr. Elizabeth Economy interviews Noah Barkin, senior advisor with the Rhodium Group, about the evolving EU-China relationship following their July 2025 summit celebrating 50 years of diplomatic ties. Barkin traces Europe's awakening to the China challenge and China's designation as a "systemic rival" in 2019, explaining how the EU has developed its own distinct approach to managing Chinese ec...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy interviews Professor David Shambaugh about his new book  Breaking the Engagement: How China Won & Lost America , which examines the collapse of America's four-decade engagement strategy with China. Shambaugh argues that China initially "won over" American constituencies during the reform era, but starting around 2010, these groups faced increasing obstacles in China, lead...

Hoover Fellows Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Dr. Amy Zegart discuss the " DeepSeek moment "— when China's DeepSeek AI model surprised U.S. markets by replicating OpenAI's performance using fewer resources and an open-source approach. The two explore the strategic implications of open versus closed AI models, with there being an argument that the U.S. should embrace more open research approaches rather...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Ely Ratner sit down to discuss challenging security environment in the Indo-Pacific region, the specific goals and ambitions of China in the Western Pacific and East Asia, their experiences in the Biden Administration and the state of the alliance system in the region, based off his recent Foreign Affairs Piece, “The Case for a Pacific Defense Pact”. The two scholars touc...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Michael McFaul sit down to discuss the relationship between the United States, China, and Russia, the history of US engagement with Russia, his experience as the United States Ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, and the increasing cooperation between China and Russia. McFaul begins by discussing early engagement with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Šumit Ganguly sit down to discuss the recent conflict between India and Pakistan, the roots of the conflict between the two nations, and how the United States and China fit into the relationship. Ganguly starts out by giving listeners an overview of the cross-border clashes in early May, where the tension from the two nations stems from; originating over a land dispute al...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Susan Schwab sit down to discuss the current global trade environment and the outlook for US-China trade relations in the aftermath of negotiations in Geneva. The two discuss the magnitude and reaction to President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, along with the motivations and scale behind the actions. Schwab then explains the dynamics of negotiating within a presidenti...

Longtime friends Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Michael Dunne sit down to discuss the transformation of the Chinese automobile industry, the roots of electric vehicles in China, the demand for electric vehicles (EV) both in the United States and globally, and how the United States can best compete in a rapidly changing environment. Dunne details the early days of the Chinese EV revolution, a quiet tran...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Gary Rieschel to discuss his two decades-plus working in venture capital in China, his experience starting his own firm, Qiming Venture Partners, in the country, and the evolution of the business and entrepreneurial space in the 21st century. Rieschel illustrates the early challenges in the VC sector, from a lack of infrastructure and difficulty in finding reli...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Patrick Jenevein to discuss his career in the energy industry in China, the outlook for foreign individuals and companies seeking to do business in the country, and his new book - Dancing with the Dragon. Jenevein, who worked in the country for more than 20 years, recounts a collection of stories ranging from one of his company’s first deal in the country’s far...

Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Matthew Turpin to discuss his road to becoming a China specialist, the US government’s strategy to compete with China, the role of China and the United States in international institutions, and the likelihood of a deal between President Trump and President Xi over the next four years. Turpin describes how his path led him from a European History major at West P...