China's military has been growing steadily over the past 25 years and has expanded in both size and capability. But whether China's military becomes more powerful than the US military will depend on if we let it. Joining us in this episode is Jim Fanell, the Former Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Controversy surrounds the 2022 Beijing Olympics from the creepy panda mascot to the handling of covid cases to the changing nationalities of Chinese athletes. In this Just US episode, we talk about Eileen Gu, Zhu Yi, Nathan Chen, Bing Dwen Dwen, the US-China trade war, and much, much more.

There are many ways China controls the narrative on China. Through its economic influence, united front work and propaganda efforts, a lot of what you hear about China has been influenced by China. Joining us in this episode is J Michael Waller, a senior analyst for strategy at the Center for Security Policy.

The Olympics is not only a coup for the Chinese Communist Party in terms of showing its influence on the international stage, but has practically become the coronation ceremony for Chinese leader Xi Jinping. At a Party meeting in November, Xi's next term will officially be decided, but how well the Olympics goes may herald his rise or demise. In this episode of China Unscripted, we discuss China's economy, China's planned invasion of Taiwan, and the US-China economic relationship. Joining us in this episode is Jack Posobiec, a former Naval intelligence officer who lived in China, and the host of the podcast Human Events Daily.

There was a brief time during which China's economy came out of the doldrums and its growth was the envy of the world. That all changed, however, with the arrival of Xi Jinping. In this episode of China Unscripted, we discuss China's cannibal capitalism, the fate of Alibaba and WeChat, foreign investment in China, and much, much more. Joining us in this episode is James Gorrie, a writer and political economist who authored "The China Crisis: How China's Economic Collapse Will Lead to a Global Depression".

The US and Taiwan have a lot in common—both are democracies, both have rule of law, and both share a common enemy: China. Despite their similarities though, the US and Taiwan have had a fraught relationship. In this episode of China Unscripted, we take a deep look at the US-Taiwan relationship, explore the possibilities were the two countries to become closer, and reminisce about Taiwanese beef hotpot. Joining us in this episode is Ian Easton, the senior director at the Project 2049 Institute and author of The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan's Defense and American Strategy in Asia.

China has been telling the world that its brutal lockdowns in service of reaching zero covid cases have largely been effective. But China is also changing the definition of the "zero" in zero covid to better align with the uncomfortable reality that covid-19 cannot be arrested or suppressed into extinction. In this Just Us episode, we also discuss Elon Musk's relationship with China, a new Xinhua propaganda spoof making fun of the US and UK, Wall Street waking up to China investment risks, Chinese backing of the movie "Dune" and other topics.

There is no politician too small for China to try to co-opt, which is why leaders all around the US have been solicited by China. In this episode of China Unscripted, we discuss China's web of influence operations in the US, whether the media should boycott the Beijing Olympics and China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) right here in the US. Joining us in this episode is Emily de la Bruyére, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the co-author of the new monograph All Over the Map: The Chinese Communist Party’s Subnational Interests in the United States.

Under its Belt and Road Initiative, China has been going all over the signing business deals with countries to build their infrastructure. The United States has been standing on the sidelines, watching China gain increasing influence with and leverage over these countries without doing much to stop it. In this episode of China Unscripted, we discuss how the US should be doing something similar with green energy to tackle climate change, China setting standards for 5G, the effectiveness of blacklisting Chinese Companies, and as well as other topics. Joining us in this episode is Christopher Balding, a fellow at the Henry Jackson Society and an associate professor at the Fulbright University Vietnam. He was formerly an associate professor at Peking University HSBC School of Business in Shenzhen, China.

China has been trying to build a parallel world order alongside that of the US-led western system, and it would like nothing more than to be the world's only superpower. It has long been laying plans to do just that. Is China's rise to becoming a global hegemon more powerful than the US inevitable? We discuss that and more in this episode of China Unscripted. Joining us in this episode is Anders Corr, the publisher of the journal of Political Risk and principal at Corr Analytics. He’s also the author of the new book The Concentration of Power: Institutionalization, Hierarchy, and Hegemony.