Brigadier General Robert S. Spalding III, USAF (Ret.), is the former U.S. Defense Attaché in Beijing and author of Stealth War and War Without Rules. He joins Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss to discuss how Beijing turns American openness into strategic leverage.

Drawing on his military career, which includes extensive experience in China, Spalding argues that the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) competition with the United States reaches far beyond traditional military conflict. He explains how capital markets, supply chains, corporate access, digital infrastructure, university partnerships, AI research, and talent pipelines can become channels of influence, coercion, and technology transfer.

For higher education, the warning is clear. China's students and researchers working and studying in the United States cannot be treated as strategically neutral. Rather, the likelihood is high that they are acting as agents of surveillance, censorship, or military modernization. Academic exchanges and research must be protected from the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

This episode of Cafe Berlin explores whether America can wake up to China's stealth war, strengthen deterrence over Taiwan's status, and preserve the openness that makes a free society worth defending.

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Books by Robert Spalding

• Stealth War: How China Took Over While America's Elite Slept https://www.amazon.com/Stealth-War-China-While-Americas-ebook/dp/B07S3PYHH4
• War Without Rules: China's Playbook for Global Domination https://www.amazon.com/War-Without-Rules-Playbook-Domination-ebook/dp/B0951N41QY

In this episode of Café Berlin, Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss are joined by Dr. Gregory J. Moore, Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College and Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies. Dr. Moore explains why Taiwan may be the most dangerous flashpoint in U.S.-China relations—and why universities should pay attention.

In this episode of Café Berlin, Ian Oxnevad and Lilla Nóra Kiss are joined by David Shedd, former Acting Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, and co-author (with Andrew Badger) of The Great Heist: China's Epic Campaign to Steal America's Secrets (HarperCollins, 2025).

Their conversation explores how the Chinese Communist Party has pursued a long-term, whole-of-society strategy to acquire American technology, intellectual property, research, and strategic advantage across sectors ranging from academia and industry to artificial intelligence, telecommunications, energy, and advanced manufacturing.

Drawing on decades of intelligence experience, Shedd explains how China integrates cyber operations, talent recruitment, academic partnerships, commercial access, and industrial policy into a broader geopolitical strategy aimed at reshaping the global balance of power.

This discussion also examines foreign influence in U.S. higher education, research security, technology transfer, supply-chain dependency, energy policy, and the growing intersection between innovation and national security.

Café Berlin is a new podcast series of the National Association of Scholars, featuring Ian Oxnevad, Senior NAS Fellow for Foreign Affairs and National Security, and Lilla Nora Kiss, Senior NAS Fellow for International Affairs and Academic Integrity.