The US-China Podcast

Meg Rithmire’s book, Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia, compares state-business relations in China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It explains why initial partnerships for growth between political and business elites disintegrated into corruption and financial instability in all three countries, and why some patterns of corruption and cronyism are more destructive for economic and political stability than others. She argues that China is similar to Indonesia in many ways, with endemic distrust between business and political elites creating a form of “mutual endangerment.” In both countries, fraud, asset expatriation, and cronyism reflect mutual enmeshment in illegal dealings to guarantee safety. In recent years, the CCP has pursued discipline of the private sector that seems to borrow from Malaysia, especially the party-state in corporate governance roles.

In an interview conducted on January 18, 2024, Meg Rithmire, in conversation with Yeling Tan, focuses on the relationship between business and the state in China.

About the speakers: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/business-state-authoritarian-asia/

Read the transcript: https://www.ncuscr.org/podcast/business-state-authoritarian-asia/

Follow Meg Rithmire on X: @MegRithmire

Follow Yeling Tan on X: @YelingT

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According to a Chicago Council survey conducted in September 2023, Americans are more concerned about China’s rise now than at any point since the end of the Cold War. A record level of Americans consider China’s transformation into a global power to be a threat to U.S. interests, and are more likely to say that the U.S. government’s efforts to counter China’s rise have been insufficient.

Although those surveyed are confident in U.S. military power compared to China’s military power, Americans are divided on which country is stronger economically. From human rights to intellectual property rights, Americans are more likely to say that the U.S. government’s response to China has not gone far enough than to say it has been about right.

In an interview recorded on January 19, 2024 with Kate Kaup, Craig Kafura discusses the findings of the Chicago Council’s survey on U.S. attitudes towards China.

About the speakers: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/chicago-council-china-threat/

Read the transcript: https://www.ncuscr.org/podcast/chicago-council-china-threat/

Follow Craig Kafura on X: @ckafura

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).

U.S.-China & the World is an interview series investigating how the U.S.-China relationship impacts societies, economies, and policies around the globe. Through short interviews with local experts, this series takes a closer look at the countries and regions affected by and navigating through U.S.-China tensions—and ultimately, how the United States and China together can build a better future for the international community. 

The South Asian state of Nepal, wedged between China and India, balances and leverages its strategic interests and responsibilities between its much larger neighbors. Where does Nepal stand on the U.S.-China relationship? Professor Gaurav Bhattarai (Tribhuvan University) joined the National Committee on July 31, 2023, to investigate the triangular relationship between the United States, China, and Nepal.  

About the speaker

Read the transcript

Follow Gaurav Bhattarai on X: @Gauravbhattarai

Want to suggest a country or region for us to cover? Email us at [email protected]

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).

U.S.-China & the World is an interview series investigating how the U.S.-China relationship impacts societies, economies, and policies around the globe. Through short interviews with local experts, this series takes a closer look at the countries and regions affected by and navigating through U.S.-China tensions—and ultimately, how the United States and China together can build a better future for the international community. 

Italian domestic politics and role in global developmental projects changed drastically in 2023. What will Italian infrastructure and economy look like after Italy leaves the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)? Professor Matteo Dian joined the National Committee on August 29, 2023 to discuss how the Italian public and government understands itself in relation to the U.S.-China relationship.  

About the speaker

Read the transcript

Follow Matteo Dian on X: @matteo_dian

Want to suggest a country or region for us to cover? Email us at [email protected]

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).

Nearly 20 million voters in Taiwan went to the polls over the weekend to elect a new president.  The a results will have outsize importance to Taiwan’s future, its relations with the United States and China, as well as U.S.- China relations more broadly. With the votes now counted, the incumbent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will retain the presidency as William Lai Ching-te looks to build on the work of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen.

As the world closely monitors the Taiwan Strait to discern the implications of these election results, it is crucial to gain insights directly from Taiwan to understand the issues that influenced the outcome and anticipate what comes next within the Taiwan-China-United States triangle. In an interview conducted on January 14, 2024 in Taipei, Margaret Lewis delves into the details of Taiwan’s 2024 election results with Yu-Jie Chen and Brian Hioe.

About the speakers: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/taiwan-election-results/

Read the transcript here

Follow Yu-Jie Chen on X: @yujiechentw

Follow Brian Hioe on X: @brianhioe

Follow Margaret Lewis on X: @MargaretKLewis

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).

U.S.-China & the World is an interview series investigating how the U.S.-China relationship impacts societies, economies, and policies around the globe. Through short interviews with local experts, this series takes a closer look at the countries and regions impacted by and navigating through U.S.-China tensions—and ultimately, how the United States and China together can build a better future for the international community. 

The countries of Southeast Asia represent a large diversity of diplomatic stances, tactics, and goals on the global political stage. What can the United States and China do to further the interests of Southeast Asian nations? From the South China Seas to trade and climate, China and the United States must take into consideration Southeast Asia’s regional interests. Selina Ho joined the National Committee on April 1, 2023, to discuss Southeast Asia’s social and political dynamics within the great context of the U.S.-China relationship. 

Follow Selina Ho on X: @selinalcho

Want to suggest a country or region for us to cover? Email us at [email protected]

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).

Apparently, the U.S.-China relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. Why, and for whom?

Introducing our new segment on The US-China Podcast, U.S.-China & the World! Experts from around the world tell us about how the U.S.-China relationship impacts their countries on matters including, but not limited to, climate change, healthcare, economics, and security. You’ll hear experts from regions such as Southeast Asia, South America, the Pacific Islands, and more. 

Follow along as the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations takes you around the world to answer the question, “How can the United States and China work together to make the world a better place?”

Want to suggest a country or region for us to cover? Email us at [email protected]

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).

The United States and China are at a crossroads today. Will the two nations be enemies, or will they continue to engage with each other? Mary Brown Bullock, who first visited China nearly 50 years ago, explores this question in her latest book, China on My Mind.  Her memoir describes being a missionary child in Asia, studying China from afar, leading the first exchanges of students, being a college president, and establishing an American university in China. Dr. Bullock, an optimist and long-term participant, concludes with today’s uncertainty as many institutions including Duke University, Ford Foundation, China Medical Board, United Board for Christian Higher Education in Asia, and others face a new era of relations with China.

In an interview conducted on December 21, 2023, Mary Brown Bullock discusses the past, present, future of U.S-China relations through the lenses of a trained historian, an academic administrator, and a frequent visitor.

About the speaker: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/china-on-my-mind/

Read the transcript here: https://www.ncuscr.org/podcast/china-on-my-mind/

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).

In the summer of 2023, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched a lunar-exploration mission, making India the fourth country to land on the moon. Now that India has joined China and the United States in the ranks of major space-faring countries, there is huge potential for outer space cooperation between the three nations. How will the United States, China, and India work together on shared challenges, such as space debris and traffic management? Significant obstacles to healthy cooperation remain because of geopolitical tensions here on planet Earth.

In an interview filmed on November 3, 2023, Namrata Goswami joins the National Committee to discuss the future of U.S.-China-India space cooperation and competition.

About the speaker: https://www.ncuscr.org/video/india-china-united-states-space/

Follow Namrata Goswami on X: @namygoswami

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Shellen Wu’s new book, Birth of the Geopolitical Age: Global Frontiers and the Making of Modern China traces the global history of the frontier in the twentieth century, particularly in China. The global history approach offers a new perspective on the continuities and evolution of the construction of Chinese territoriality from the late nineteenth century through to the People’s Republic of China after 1949. She weaves a narrative that moves through time and space, the lives of individuals, and empires’ rise, fall and rebirth, to show how the reshaping of Chinese geopolitical ambitions in the twentieth century, and the global transformation of frontiers, continues to reorder global power dynamics in East Asia and beyond to this day.

In an interview conducted on November 9, 2023, Shellen Wu, in conversation with James Carter, discusses how China, despite political turmoil and war, navigated the twentieth century with its imperial territory basically intact.

About the speakers: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/Global-Frontiers-modern-China/

Read the transcript: https://www.ncuscr.org/podcast/Global-Frontiers-modern-China/

Follow James Carter on Twitter: @jayjamescarter

Subscribe to the National Committee on YouTube for video of this interview. Follow us on Twitter (@ncuscr) and Instagram (@ncuscr).