China Desk

Investigative journalist and bestselling author Sam Cooper joins China Desk to expose the hidden financial and political networks linking Chinese organized crime, money laundering, and fentanyl trafficking across North America. Cooper breaks down the “Vancouver Model,” revealing how underground casinos, real estate, and foreign influence operations move billions of dollars through Canada—often with alleged links to Chinese state actors and election interference.

This episode explores how criminal networks exploit Western financial systems, the role of casinos in global money laundering, China’s United Front operations, and how illicit fentanyl cash fuels destabilization across borders. A must-watch conversation on national security, transnational crime, and the reality behind Chinese influence in democratic societies.

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This episode of The China Desk features Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, in a deep, candid conversation with host Steve Yates. They break down how China targets American states, the vulnerabilities inside U.S. supply chains and critical infrastructure, the threat of Beijing’s political warfare operations, and why state-level stress tests and new legislation are becoming essential defensive tools. Lucci explains real-world cases — from foreign land purchases near military bases to spyware-enabled tech in hospitals — and outlines what lawmakers, governors, and citizens must do to confront the CCP’s growing influence. Essential viewing for anyone tracking national security, state resilience, and U.S.–China policy.

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America’s solar industry is growing fast—but China still controls huge portions of the global supply chain. In this interview, Steve Yates sits down with Ben Delman of Solar United Neighbors to break down how U.S. solar manufacturing is changing, where our steel and panel components really come from, and how new policies could shift the balance of power.

Delman explains the rise of American solar production, the role of China’s subsidies, the struggle over rare earths and raw materials, and how state-level battles over net metering and community solar will shape the next decade. He also discusses how AI-driven data centers, steel manufacturing in the Rust Belt, and innovations like plug-in balcony solar could redefine American energy independence.

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This episode of The China Desk dives deep into one of the most urgent national-security challenges facing North America: the Chinese Communist Party’s long-running campaign of espionage, foreign influence, and elite capture. Host Steve Yates sits down with Canadian intelligence expert and author Dennis Molinaro—whose new book Under Assault uncovers five decades of covert CCP operations targeting Canada, the United States, and allied democracies.

Molinaro explains how China’s influence networks took root, how academics, politicians, and business elites were quietly co-opted, and why many Western leaders chose to “see only what they wanted to see.” He breaks down united-front tactics, interference in diplomatic recognition, transnational repression, technology theft, and the chilling playbook the CCP perfected at home before exporting abroad.

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Former DMG Entertainment executive Chris Fenton joins host Steve Yates to reveal how Hollywood’s ties with Beijing reshaped global storytelling, what “Feeding the Dragon” really means, and why America’s entertainment industry must rethink its relationship with China. From Iron Man to propaganda, Fenton exposes the inside story of U.S.–China influence and the cost of reckless capitalism.

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Human rights advocate and author Benedict Rogers joins Steve Yates to discuss 30 years confronting the Chinese Communist Party’s repression—from Tiananmen to Hong Kong and Xinjiang. Rogers shares insights on China’s growing global influence, Xi Jinping’s authoritarian turn, and the moral cost of Western complacency. A powerful discussion on truth, courage, and defending freedom in the modern world.

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In this powerful episode of The China Desk with host Steve Yates, UN Watch director Hillel Neuer exposes how China and other authoritarian regimes manipulate the United Nations from within. Neuer breaks down Beijing’s long-term strategy to dominate global institutions like the World Health Organization, the Human Rights Council, and other Geneva-based agencies — using influence, intimidation, and propaganda to silence dissent.

From the persecution of Uyghurs and Hong Kong dissidents to China’s infiltration of UN NGOs, this conversation reveals how the ideals of Eleanor Roosevelt’s original UN vision have been corrupted — and what can still be done to reclaim them.

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In this episode of The China Desk, host Steve Yates speaks with Tom Switzer, former senior fellow at the Center for Independent Studies and veteran journalist, about Australia’s evolving relationship with China and the United States. Switzer explains how Australia shifted from optimism about China’s integration into the liberal world order to a posture of strategic realism.

The discussion explores:

- How Australia’s view of the U.S.–China rivalry has changed since the 1990s

- The political and public response to China’s military and economic rise

- The fate of the AUKUS defense pact under shifting global power dynamics

- What “foreign policy realism” means in an era of great-power competition

This candid conversation breaks down how democracies like Australia balance prosperity with security — and what that means for U.S. allies across the Indo-Pacific.

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In this episode of The China Desk, host Steve Yates speaks with Weifeng Zhong — senior advisor at the America First Policy Institute and co-creator of the Policy Change Index — about his journey from Communist China to the U.S., how AI and information control shape authoritarian regimes, and why America must reclaim its fight for free expression.

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In this episode of The China Desk Podcast, host Steve Yates sits down with veteran intelligence officer and author Nick Eftimiades to explore the tactics behind Chinese espionage. Drawing on decades of experience at the CIA, DIA, and State Department, Eftimiades explains how Beijing uses a “whole-of-society” approach—spanning the Ministry of State Security, PLA, United Front, state-owned enterprises, and academia—to gather intelligence and influence U.S. policy. He discusses the evolution of Chinese spy craft from the Cold War to Xi Jinping’s era, the Thousand Talents Program, elite capture, and the massive transfer of American intellectual property. The conversation closes with urgent steps the U.S. must take to counter China’s operations at the federal, state, and local levels.

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