The US-China Podcast

Latest Episodes:

China's Global Image Is Improving, New Pew Survey Finds Sep 28, 2026

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At the beginning of the current decade, views of China were near historic lows in many countries. Recently, however, positive opinions of China have become more widespread, as measured in a recent Pew Research Center survey, and more people now have confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping to do the right thing regarding world affairs. Still, in most of the 37 countries surveyed, and particularly in some of the wealthier ones, views of Xi remain more negative than positive. Views of China are also more positive in Latin America, Africa and parts of South and Southeast Asia than in wealthier European and East Asian countries. Anxieties about China persist, including concerns about its government's respect for personal freedoms, the possibility of territorial conflict with its neighbors, and interference in the affairs of other countries.

In an interview conducted on August 7, 2026, Pew Research Center Associate Director Laura Silver joins Steve Orlins to discuss changes in global perceptions of China over the past few years.

About the speaker

Do the U.S. and China Still Share a North Korea Policy? Sep 25, 2026

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The strategic landscape of the Korean Peninsula is shifting. President Trump's recent reduction in military exercises with Seoul and his olive branch to Pyongyang raise new questions regarding the future of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, especially as North Korea deepens its military partnership with Russia. Meanwhile, denuclearization, previously a common goal of Washington and Beijing, grows increasingly uncertain as the two countries' priorities diverge. This conversation examines whether the United States and China still share a policy toward North Korea, how changes in Pyongyang's foreign policy are reshaping the region, and what a transforming U.S.-South Korea alliance means for Seoul.

On August 25, 2026, Jonathan Corrado of the Korea Society spoke with Victor Cha and Susan Thornton to discuss the U.S. and China's diverging policies toward North Korea and who will manage the next crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

About the program: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/do-the-us-and-china-still-share-a-north-korea-policy/

U.S.-China Relations in the Shadow of the Iran War Sep 23, 2026

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On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a major military campaign against Iran, resulting in the assassination of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The campaign triggered a rapidly evolving crisis across the Middle East, disrupting energy markets, closing Gulf airspace and waterways, and sending geopolitical and diplomatic shockwaves through the region, including casting uncertainty over the anticipated Trump-Xi summit at the end of March.

In an event recorded on March 9, 2026, Yun Sun and Gedaliah Afterman, in conversation with Lincoln Hines, unpack how the Iran war is testing China's relationships across the Middle East, what Beijing's response reveals about the limits of its regional influence, and what a fundamentally reshaped Middle East, potentially including a post-Islamic Republic Iran, means for the broader trajectory of U.S.-China relations.

About the speakers

Why an American teacher turned $5,000 into 50,000 trees Sep 21, 2026

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How did an American teacher turn $5,000 into 50,000 trees in China, changing a desert into a forrest?

Ron Sakolsky joined us on September 8, 2026, to share his story.

How Japan, China, and the United States are Managing Tensions in the East China Sea Sep 18, 2026

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From territorial disputes over uninhabited islands to the threat of military action in the Taiwan Strait, the East China Sea is a tense environment. Japan, China, and the United States have strong economic and security interests in the region, positioning it to be a major geopolitical flashpoint if conflict breaks out. As politics in the area are further complicated by Russia-China military collaboration and dynamics on the Korean Peninsula, the need for open channels of communication to mitigate risk remains important. How can Japan, China, and the United States manage tensions in the East China Sea?

Sheila Smith joined us on August 7, 2026 to explain factors behind tension in the East China Sea and what Japan, China, and the United States can do to manage the situation peacefully.

Learn more about the speaker and watch the video here.

Why are EU-China Trade Relations Tense? Sep 11, 2026

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Trade between the EU and China account for almost 30% of global trade and 35% of global GDP, but the balance and structure of their trade relationship has changed in recent years. As China's exports moved up the value chain, the goods it sent to Europe started competing with products already manufactured in Europe, creating tension. However, it's difficult for the EU to confront and change its economic relationship with China since individual European nations feel trade frictions differently and economic relations with the United States are also under pressure. How will the EU move forward with China and the United States?

Agatha Kratz joined us on August 20, 2026 to share how the EU-China trade relationship is evolving and where it's headed.

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As the U.S. Steps Back, China Steps Up: Inside China's Global Climate Strategy Aug 28, 2026

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In Chinese Global Environmentalism, Alex L. Wang examines China's embrace of green development on the global stage. He traces Chinese global environmentalism's evolution and motivations and analyzes its deployment through the governance tools of green ideology, diplomacy, economic statecraft, and international development cooperation. He conceives of Chinese global environmentalism as a wide-ranging economic and political strategy used to unsettle traditional views of China and bolster the legitimacy of Chinese power at home and abroad. The author argues that Chinese global environmentalism, while not without its fits and starts, is enabling China to make inroads internationally with implications for China's rise and the natural environment that are only beginning to be appreciated.

In an interview conducted on June 4, 2026, Alex Wang joins Joanna Lewis to discuss China's role on the global stage when it comes to environmental development.

About the program: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/chinese-global-environmentalism/

Open Source or Controlled Access? The New U.S.-China AI Divide Aug 26, 2026

Show notes

On June 12, 2026, the U.S. government placed Anthropic's two most capable models under export controls, the first time a frontier AI model itself, rather than the chips beneath, it was treated as a controlled item. While the controls were later removed, it presented a new source of uncertainty for closed models coming out of American frontier labs. At almost exactly the same time, Chinese firms, specifically Z.ai and Moonshot, released several highly capable open-source models, which sharpened a core tension in U.S. strategy: promoting open diffusion to extend American influence while locking down its most advanced, closed systems.

In this program, Samm Sacks and Kevin Xu join Graham Webster to unpack why the export controls were placed, why China has been leaning into open-source, and what this means for U.S. and Chinese leadership in artificial intelligence, respectively.

About the program: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/open-or-closed-export-controls-and-the-future-of-u-s-china-ai/

Competing for Soft Power: China's Image-Making in Africa Aug 21, 2026

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With a growing young population, vast natural resources, and emerging technology hubs, countries across Africa have become key sites for diplomatic competition between the United States and China. Focusing on Ethiopia, Maria Repnikova examines the ambitious and disjointed display of Chinese diplomatic influence in Africa, developing a new theoretical approach to understanding China's practice of soft power, identifying the core mechanisms as tangible enticement with material and experiential offerings, promotion of values, visions, and governance practices, and censorial power over the production and dissemination of China narratives.

Through in-depth field work, Dr. Repnikova builds a picture of the uneven implementation and reception of this image-making, in which Chinese messengers can improvise official agendas, and Ethiopian recipients can strategically appropriate and negotiate Chinese power. Contrary to popular claims about China replacing the West in the Global South, her study reveals the successes, inconsistencies, and limitations of Chinese influence, as well as the ever-present shadow of the West in mediating soft-power encounters.

In an interview conducted on July 26, 2026, Maria Repnikova joins Xiaoyu Pu to discuss China's soft power in Africa.

About the program: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/competing-for-soft-power-chinas-image-making-in-africa/

Americans Are Changing Their Minds About China — Here's Why Aug 18, 2026

Show notes

In an interview conducted on May 4, 2026, Laura Silver joins Steve Orlins to discuss the data on how American perceptions of China have changed over the past year. Americans' views toward China are changing, according to a recent Pew Research Center report published this April: today, 27 percent of Americans have a positive opinion of China, up six percentage points from last year and nearly double the share from 2023. Amid several notable findings in the survey, some of the most striking are:

Confidence in Chinese President Xi Jinping to do the right thing regarding world affairs has increased four percentage points since last year and has roughly doubled since 2023.
When asked whether China is a partner, enemy, or competitor of the United States, fewer Americans now describe China as an enemy than in 2025, though most still view it as a competitor.
Slightly fewer Americans now than last year say China benefits from trade at the expense of the United States.

About the speaker: https://www.ncuscr.org/event/americans-shifting-views-on-china-in-recent-years/

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