China Unscripted

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.

Tennis star Peng Shuai hasn't been in the public eye much since she accused former top communist party official Zhang Gaoli of sexually assaulting her. The only glimpses the public has had into her life have been tightly choreographed videos and photos put out by state-run media and the International Olympic Committee, which has been working closely with China to host the 2022 winter Olympics in Beijing. In this Just Us episode of China Unscripted, we discuss Peng Shuai, China’s bullying in the South China Sea, the CCP’s attempt to erase the memory of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the US standing up for Taiwan, and China’s horrific family planning policies.

In December of 2018, Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were arrested in China, allegedly on spying charges. This happened days after Canada's detention of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US. Meng was accused of lying to British bank HSBC about Huawei's affiliate Skycom and its connections to Iran, which put the bank afoul of US sanctions. Meng fought the US's extradition request, and in September 2021, the Biden administration worked out a deferred prosecution agreement with Meng in return for her admission that she misled HSBC about Huawei's relationship with Skycom. In this episode of China Unscripted, we are joined by Fen Hampson, the chancellor’s professor at Carleton University and president of the World Refugee & Migration Council, and Mike Blanchfield, the international affairs writer for The Canadian Press. They are the authors of the book: The Two Michaels: Innocent Canadian Captives and High Stakes Espionage in the US-China Cyber War.

In this "Just Us" episode of China Unscripted, we discuss how US companies are funding China's tech dominance, our trips to Hong Kong, how to buy not made in China and Quantum Leap, among other things.

The way the US has treated China for decades has not led to the outcomes it hoped for. Now the US is meeting China where it is, not where the US wants it to be. The big question now is can the US disentangle itself from China in a way that doesn't hurt Americans, and does it have what it takes to stand up to China in all the arenas that China is challenging it in. Joining us in this episode of China Unscripted is David Stilwell, the former Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs during the Trump administration and the director of the China Strategic Focus Group at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.