China Desk

In this episode of The China Desk Podcast, host Steve Yates sits down with journalist and documentary filmmaker Jan Jekielek, host of American Thought Leaders and author of Killed to Order. The conversation explores the disturbing allegations surrounding forced organ harvesting in China, a practice critics say is linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s detention system and repression of dissident groups. Jekielek explains how the issue first emerged through reports from prisoners of conscience and human-rights investigations, and how China’s transplant system raised questions among medical experts due to extremely short wait times for organs. He discusses the role of propaganda, state control, and international medical partnerships, and what this controversy reveals about the structure of power inside the CCP. The discussion also examines broader geopolitical implications, including how Western governments, institutions, and medical systems have responded—or failed to respond—to the allegations.

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Is China competing—or executing a long-term strategy to dominate global industry?

In this episode of The China Desk, legendary CEO advisor Ram Charan joins Steve Yates to break down his book China’s 90% Model: China Has America by the Throat — Here’s How to Fight Back and Win. Charan argues that China’s strategy is deliberate: build capacity to meet 90% of global demand, sell below marginal cost, subsidize exports, and destroy competitors across entire industries.

Drawing on six decades advising global executives—including more than 50 Chinese companies—Charan explains how this model has hollowed out American manufacturing in sectors like solar, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and advanced materials. He describes why many CEOs understand the threat privately but hesitate to speak publicly, and why investors may be underestimating long-term risk.

The conversation explores:

Charan argues that America and its allies still possess overwhelming economic strength—but only if they coordinate industrial policy, rebuild manufacturing capacity, and communicate the stakes clearly to the public and business leaders alike.

This is a high-level strategic conversation about economic warfare, industrial capacity, and what the next seven years could determine for the global balance of power.

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What happens when the world’s most valuable tech company becomes deeply tied to China’s manufacturing ecosystem? In this episode of the China Desk Podcast, host Steve Yates sits down with journalist and author Patrick McGee to unpack the geopolitical stakes behind Apple’s rise, global supply chains, and the future of U.S.–China economic competition.

Drawing from McGee’s research and reporting, the conversation explores how Apple’s manufacturing strategy shaped China’s industrial growth, the realities of technology transfer, and why policymakers are rethinking dependence on Chinese production. The discussion also examines labor dynamics, shifting alliances, and whether diversification to countries like India or Mexico can realistically reshape global tech manufacturing.

If you’re interested in geopolitics, technology strategy, national security, or the future of globalization, this episode delivers a deep, grounded look at how corporate decisions can reshape international power dynamics.

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In this episode of the China Desk Podcast, host Steve Yates speaks with Indo-Pacific expert Cleo Paskal about China’s growing influence across the Pacific Islands and why the region is central to U.S. national security. The conversation explores geopolitical competition in Oceania, corruption and political warfare, Taiwan diplomacy, Guam’s strategic role, and how Chinese economic projects intersect with military strategy. Paskal breaks down the “3.5-tier” framework for understanding Pacific Island priorities and explains why Americans should pay closer attention to the region’s strategic importance.

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In this episode, host Steve Yates is joined by Leland Miller, co-founder of China Beige Book and U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission member, for a clear-eyed assessment of China’s economy heading into 2026.

Miller breaks down what analysts got wrong about China in 2025, why GDP figures and stimulus narratives are misleading, and how Xi Jinping is prioritizing advanced manufacturing and national security over household consumption. The conversation examines why a true shift to a consumer-driven Chinese economy is unlikely, how high U.S.–China tariffs have become sustainable rather than destabilizing, and why the real battleground has moved from trade wars to supply chain warfare.

Key topics include supply-chain weaponization, rare earths and pharmaceuticals, tariffs versus effective tariff rates, transshipment, robotics and demographics, and the strategic risks facing the U.S. and its allies as globalization gives way to a fragmented, security-driven economic order.

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In this episode of The China Desk Podcast, host Steve Yates sits down with Tiffany Meier, anchor and investigative reporter for NTD News, to unpack how the Chinese Communist Party exerts long-term influence across global media, Hollywood, technology, and politics.

Meier traces her path into journalism, explains how China In Focus emerged during the early days of COVID-19, and outlines the CCP’s strategy of soft power, censorship, and unrestricted warfare. The conversation explores Hollywood’s entanglement with Chinese censorship, the use of AI and surveillance as tools of authoritarian control, and why Taiwan remains central to global security.

This wide-ranging discussion also examines transnational repression, media capture, human rights abuses, and why understanding China’s long-game strategy is critical for policymakers, journalists, and citizens alike.

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In this episode of the China Desk Podcast, Luke de Pulford of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) joins host Steve Yates to examine China’s proposed “mega embassy” in London, the national security risks tied to Five Eyes intelligence cables, and how Western governments are capitulating under economic pressure from Beijing. The conversation explores parliamentary resistance, grassroots opposition, CCP coercion tactics, and why Taiwan, supply chains, and global deterrence now define the century’s central geopolitical struggle.

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In this episode of China Desk, Steve Yates analyzes the dramatic U.S. action in Venezuela, the arrest of Nicolás Maduro, and the disruption of an illicit oil “ghost fleet supplying China, Russia, and Iran. The discussion explores why Venezuela’s oil reserves matter so deeply to Beijing, how China’s hemispheric ambitions collided with renewed American resolve, and what the episode signals for future flashpoints—from Taiwan to the South China Sea. A clear-eyed look at geopolitics, energy security, sovereignty, and power projection in an increasingly unstable global order.

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In this episode, host Steve Yates is joined by Andrew J. Phelan, Australian med-tech entrepreneur, former government advisor, and longtime China watcher, for a wide-ranging conversation on the growing global confrontation with the Chinese Communist Party.

Phelan reflects on recent events in Australia, including the Bondi tragedy, and examines how information warfare, social media platforms like TikTok, and foreign influence operations are shaping public opinion—especially among younger generations. From there, the discussion expands to Australia’s China policy under Prime Minister Albanese, U.S.–Australia alliance dynamics, and the limits of appeasement.

The conversation dives deep into the technology Cold War: export controls, semiconductors, AI, supply-chain dependence, Chinese overcapacity, and the role of Western capital in financing China’s rise. Phelan argues that 2025 marks a true inflection point—one defined by economic bifurcation, strategic risk, and growing pressure around Taiwan.

This episode offers a clear-eyed assessment of where things stand heading into 2026—and why democracies must respond by grounding strategy in values, sovereignty, and long-term discipline rather than short-term convenience.

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In this episode of The China Desk, host Steve Yates speaks with US-China Economic and Security Review Commission members Randy Schriver and Mike Kuiken about the Commission’s latest annual report to Congress. The conversation breaks down China’s rapid advances in space as a warfighting domain, quantum computing and encryption threats, biotechnology competition, and deep vulnerabilities in U.S. supply chains. Drawing on decades of national security experience, the guests explain why technological literacy, allied coordination, and long-term investment are now critical to maintaining U.S. and allied security in the Indo-Pacific.

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