PODCAST · news
China Watch
by The Epoch Times
“China Watch” is a weekly deep dive that pulls back the curtains on one of the world's most enigmatic powers. Join Epoch Times contributor Terri Wu as she deciphers where China is headed next and how its politics, technology, and business affect Americans.
Episodes
-
Japan’s Red Line on Taiwan, and Why Its China Trade Boom May Not Last, ft. Stephen Nagy
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are expected to be in Shenzhen in November for the APEC summit. How does Tokyo view meetings between Trump and Xi, and where does Taiwan fit? Stephen Nagy, a professor at International Christian...
-
China’s Banks Built the Boom. Now, They’re Hiding the Bust.
In 2025, China eliminated 670 small rural banks—nearly one in five—as they were facing elevated financial risks. Most weren’t shut down; they were folded into larger banks. It was consolidation of an unprecedented scale. But the risks haven’t gone away. They’re now concentrated in fewer, larger...
-
China's Rare Earth Control Is Fading—How We'll Know When It's Over
China's control over rare earths is already fading, but only industry insiders seem to know it, says Christopher Ecclestone, mining strategist at the financial advisory firm Hallgarten & Company. He suggests that within three years, the West could have more rare earths than it needs, and China...
-
Spy Hunting During Xi’s Visit to Washington—Terri Wu Style
Beijing waited until 48 hours before takeoff to confirm Xi Jinping's trip to Washington. Why so late? China expert June G. Liao has a theory. She thinks Xi used the visit as leverage to "seal the deal" on Zhang Youxia, the Chinese general who was once Xi’s second-in-command. The same day that...
-
Drained Gift Cards: Inside the Fraud DHS Says Funds Fentanyl and Human Trafficking
Gift cards are a great thing to receive, until you realize the card has no money on it! Did your friend make a mistake, or is something more sinister going on? Unfortunately, it’s often the latter. That’s this week’s topic, and Terri dives into how organized crime in China is stealing money from...
-
Back to Mao: China's Playbook for Taking What's Yours
China has updated its laws, in what looks like a move to gear up for war. The threshold for a “national threat” is lower than ever. And one of the major targets is private ownership. This time, American businesses are on the front line. The same thing happened in the 1950s, when U.S. claims of...
-
The Honeytrap That Reached Capitol Hill: Fang Fang, Swalwell, and China's Election Playbook
Newly declassified FBI files reveal how alleged Chinese intelligence asset Christine Fang—also known as "Fang Fang"—used a years-long sexual relationship, illegal straw donations, and planted congressional interns to work her way into the office of a sitting member of Congress. The files also...
-
The Hidden China Factor in the US-Canada Trade War
Neither the Canadian prime minister nor the U.S. trade chief, in their own public accounts, has named China as a reason the U.S.–Canada trade talks collapsed. However, the China factor is very much present. What’s in it for China? If the North American manufacturing alliance breaks down, China…
more -
The Million-Dollar Question: Will Taiwan Fight If Mainland China Invades?
What is the best strategy when one is up against overwhelming odds? That’s the Empty City Strategy that Terri Wu shares in this week’s episode of “China Watch,” in the context of Taiwan’s potential defense against the Chinese Communist Party. Two Taiwanese military experts join Terri in this...
-
Degrading China’s Supply Chain—Battling for the Spirit of a Nation
For years, "decoupling" and "de-risking" have been the go-to words for describing U.S.–China economic relations. Host Terri Wu argues that neither term captures what's actually happening anymore and proposes a new one: degrading. Terri argues the United States and China are now playing to win on...
-
Could China Cut Off Taiwan? War Games Test the Scenario
In 1958, China tried and failed to cut Taiwan off from American help. Taiwan's 2026 war games rehearse the same scenario on a much larger scale—a blockade of the entire island, not just Kinmen. Host Terri Wu unpacks what has changed since 1958, drawing on analysis from Taiwan-based experts Qi…
more -
Beijing’s Hidden AI Playbook—Why the Latest ‘Win’ Is Not What It Looks Like
Chinese artificial intelligence is making another push for world leadership. But the actual value of the services may be exaggerated and tailored to look good, misleading users on the ability to deliver practical results at the tempting, low prices being offered, analysts say. Listen as Terri…
more -
Fired for Talking: The Leak That Exposed China's Dam Secrets
A sacked Chinese hydroelectric executive. A shocking death toll. A leaked analysis of what a full collapse of the Three Gorges Dam would look like. Record rainfall has caused a dam collapse in southern China. At the same time, the situation for northern China is more dire, as downpours 20-50...
-
Xi Is All In on AI. Can China’s Economy Fund That?
Chinese leader Xi Jinping is all in with his gamble on artificial intelligence. AI will have to perform magic by pulling China’s economy out of its current downward spiral and helping Beijing overtake Washington’s global primacy. Xi is directing domestic capital to AI. At the same time, Beijing…
more -
10 Years After Tribunal’s Ruling: Keeping the South China Sea From Becoming the Next Hormuz
A major anniversary of an international tribunal ruling passed over the weekend—one that the Chinese regime hates and has continuously violated for 10 years. While many people are focusing on the Strait of Hormuz, another waterway that likely has more influence on the global economy is receiving...
-
My Own Kingdom: A Chinese Immigrant's Tribute to America's 250th
Terri Wu marks America's 250th birthday with a personal reflection on what freedom really meant to her as a Chinese immigrant. She recalls the culture shock of her U.S. visa interview in Beijing, including an accidental slur that could have cost her everything under a system she knew punished…
more -
When Biotech Purifies Rare Earths—Outdeveloping China in Its Key Industry
When China cut off rare earth exports to the United States, most rare earth companies scrambled to copy China's technology. Curtis Wu, founder and CEO of Maglut Heavy Industries, had a different idea: steal a page from biotech instead. Drawing on his years in the biotech industry, Curtis saw that...
-
Rare Knowledge About Rare Earths—the Hope, Solutions, and Imminent Threat
China controls the rare-earth chokepoint that nearly every modern industry depends on: from smartphones and EVs to missiles and fighter jets. Rare earths are a tiny market—just $20-30 billion globally—yet they sit beneath trillions of dollars in downstream value, making them one of the most...
-
A Strange Email, a Five Eyes Warning, and the New Front Line of Chinese Espionage
It started with a strange email: an unsolicited invitation for host Terri Wu to become a "senior geopolitical analyst" for a shadowy "defense advisory trust"—confidential, decoupled from her reporting, and sent from a personal Gmail. Then came the Five Eyes "Safeguarding Our Secrets" bulletin,...
-
How America Keeps Getting China Wrong—And How China Can Get It Right
Terri sits down with Piero Tozzi, a China expert whose deep roots in both Western and Confucian thought give him a truly rare lens on the U.S.–China competition. In this conversation, they unpack why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has never been—and can never be—a normal trading partner or...
-
‘Sea Blind’ to China’s Threat, and Waking Up To It
The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment on May 19, charging Chinese shipping container manufacturers with price-fixing their products during the COVID years. As a result, container prices nearly doubled between 2019 and 2024. And a leading defendant saw its profit increase by nearly...
-
Why China Is Finally Closing a Side Door It Tolerated for Years
For years, Chinese investors used Tiger, Futu, and Longbridge to buy Tesla and Nvidia — through a side door Beijing called illegal but tolerated anyway. On May 22, Beijing finally shut it. Why now? Most headlines frame this as another step in U.S.–China decoupling, or as Chinese leader Xi Jinping...
-
What Does US–China ‘Constructive Strategic Stability’ Look Like?
The Trump–Xi summit may not have accomplished much, but both countries walked away with new labels for the U.S.–China relationship. For Beijing, it's "constructive strategic stability." For Washington, it's "a constructive relationship of strategic stability on the basis of fairness and...
-
Entangled Combat: The Chinese Style of Competition Washington Should Understand
Most Westerners in business operate on the baseline assumption that hard work leads to success and beating the competition. With business in communist China, that doesn’t hold. Hard work is a must, but not the most important ingredient for success. In this episode, join Terri as she discusses the...
-
On Shadow Fleets, ‘Teapots,’ and Layered Approaches to Avoiding Sanctions
Teapots, gas stations, and shadow fleets sound like a grab bag of unconnected things, but they’re all part of a complex system keeping a terrorist regime in power and rendering international sanctions ineffective. That is, they’re part of the system China uses to import Iranian oil. But that…
more -
Why a Once-Taboo Topic on China Is Now a US Bestseller
Forced organ harvesting in China was once a taboo topic, in both China and the United States. But now, a book about it, “Killed to Order,” has made it to The New York Times non-fiction bestsellers list. I interviewed the author Jan Jekielek, senior editor of The Epoch Times and host of American...
-
The Battlefield Vulture—China’s Postwar Build-Back Playbook
Beijing avoids the battlefield, then shows up for the rebuild. Precedents include Iraq and Afghanistan. The Chinese regime moved quickly to secure oil, minerals, and influence. In this way, the regime acted like a vulture on a battlefield. When the Iran war enters a new phase, what role will…
more -
Learning Machines or Machine Learning? How Education Shapes the U.S.–China Tech Race
How much could concepts such as high school education and high-tech development overlap? Terri says a lot. Hear in this week’s episode, along with producer Daniel, how China’s education system builds people who are very specifically trained for certain tasks—and trained away from other tasks. The...
-
Beijing Is Facing the Biggest Challenge to Its Soft Power
For decades, a core assumption about China has gone largely unchallenged: That the Chinese Communist Party can legitimately represent Chinese culture—or is inseparable from it. Then came Shen Yun. For 20 years, the dance company has presented a vision of traditional Chinese culture independent of...
-
When China’s Growth Deflates to Zero—What It Means for the US
China has set its lowest growth target since 1991, reinforcing concerns that its economy faces structural challenges that may be difficult to reverse. Some analysts have taken it further, asking the fundamental question: “When does China stop growing altogether?” And when that happens, what does…
more -
The Villain’s Dilemma—The Trouble of Soft Power With No Support System
When an ally, even a business partner, is in dire straits, one would think that others would come to their aid. It would be unwise to make this assumption about a partner such as China. As the war in Iran continues, China is being placed in a deeper dilemma about how to handle its relationships...
-
China Sets Lowest Economic Growth Target in Decades—What It Doesn’t Want You to Know
China has long maintained a 5% economic growth target, even as many analysts questioned the reliability of the numbers. But this year, Beijing broke that streak. If growth figures have been widely seen as inflated, why lower the target now? And what does the move signal as China prepares for a...
-
Is the Iran War All About China?
“The energy rice bowl must be held in our own hands.” That’s Xi Jinping’s mantra on China’s energy security. It has guided Beijing’s policy for years. Now, the Iran war is testing that strategy, shaking the very “rice bowl” Xi has warned must remain firmly in China’s hands. But could the conflict...
-
Activating, Countering a ‘Dragon Vein’ Linking Asia, Europe
While much of the international news focuses on what is happening in Iran, other moving pieces in the region will play additional critical roles in America's future foreign business efforts. And there are consequences for China as well. Listen as Terri and Daniel discuss how America is expanding...
-
The ‘Smoke and Mirrors’ of China’s Critical-Mineral Monopoly
China proudly holds a total global monopoly on critical minerals—at least, that’s what they’d like you to think. As one of this week’s experts explains, “And as long as the perception of dominance remains, dominance remains.” And that is the case for China in terms of its control on this…
more -
A New Lunar Year, a New Co-Host, and a New Look: Discussion on Propaganda
Happy Lunar New Year! The year of the Horse has arrived, and so has a new co-host for this week’s episode. Show producer Daniel Holl joins Terri this week for a more lighthearted discussion on Chinese propaganda. That is, the kind that takes movie form, which can be unintentionally comical to a...
-
Connecting Dots—Seeding Future Leverage Against China
The Panama Canal, the Board of Peace, and the Critical Minerals Ministerial seem to be unrelated projects, but they’re all coordinated moves against the Chinese Communist Party. Listen to Terri Wu connect these seemingly unrelated dots to explain how they’re part of a broader geopolitical…
more -
A Shifting Global Order: Why Greenland Is at the Center, Where We Are Heading
Greenland stands at the center of a global power struggle between the United States and an aggressive China. Both countries have been jockeying to assert influence on the island, with U.S. President Donald Trump recently taking a decisive lead. What is the significance of the island to each of...
-
Encircling the US: What Would a China-Occupied Greenland Look Like?
China has been pursuing a long-term strategy to position itself along key geographic and economic chokepoints surrounding the United States. It’s a long game, with a metaphorical example in one of the country's oldest and most famous games: Weiqi. While it’s often a strategy to encircle the...
-
What’s China’s Stake in Iran? It’s Not Oil.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for “new leadership in Iran.” The country’s economy is on the brink of collapse. What began as an economic protest quickly escalated into a nationwide anti-regime movement. Iran’s nuclear capabilities and terrorist proxies have also been significantly...
-
Maduro’s Capture and the Unmasking of China’s ‘Anti-Stealth’ Promise
In the aftermath of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s capture by the U.S. military, a wide range of questions have gone unanswered. One of those is the role Chinese defense equipment may have played in letting the United States complete its mission unharmed. Venezuela operates…
more -
Inside China’s Mixed Military and Political Messaging
For one of the rare times in recent history, the Chinese Communist Party has not been in lockstep across its branches in external activities. While rhetoric in 2025 was toned down from outwardly aggressive to friendly and businesslike, the military has been more provocative than ever. The direct...
-
How China Spies in America: The Whole-of-Society Model Operation
When you think of a spy, do you think of a military officer who is a master of languages and disguise? If you do, then you may not understand how China uses its massive web of spies throughout the United States. Instead, think professors, white-collar workers, engineers, and researchers. They...
-
Deciphering Shifts in National Security Strategy, Toward the Americas and China Alike
The second Trump Administration published its first National Security Strategy document this month, and it’s a far departure from what the world has seen in recent years. While it adopts a much more business-like tone than before, some analysts say it’s an indicator of a weak United States. Is…
more -
A Setting Sun on Local Government Infiltration—The Case of Linda Sun
How would one infiltrate a foreign government? It seems like the idea would be to go straight to the top, but a recent trial in New York suggests otherwise. Reporter Nick Zifcak has been covering the New York trial case of Linda Sun, who is accused of acting secretly as an agent of the CCP. Hear...
-
Behind the Sino-Japanese Clash: How an Assertive Japan Upends China’s Strategy
Japan has a new prime minister, and she’s upending the political tradition that has guided geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region. China is already dealing with the chaos imposed by President Donald Trump’s trade tactics. Now, it has the added pressure from Sanae Takaichi, the Iron Lady of Japan....
-
Delisting Chinese Companies to Stop ‘Funding Our Demise’
The financial information of Chinese companies is a black box. Yet these companies enjoy preferential access to U.S. capital markets. How did it happen, and why was it tolerated? For decades, China has been taking advantage of leniency and the openness of America’s market system. And it’s coming…
more -
Economic War on the High Seas: Underreported Flashpoint of U.S.–China Tensions
Although a new trade truce was set, most analysts overlooked one critical part of the agreement. That agreement is all about shipping. But its broader consequence is global control over the oceans and seas. And whoever controls the waters will become the leading world power. Now that China is the...
-
A One-Year U.S.-China Trade Deal Truce—So What? So Everything!
It almost sounds like tabloid gossip to say, “Wow, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said something nice about President Donald Trump!” If it were any other political circumstance, it may just be gossip, but this is coming from the head of the Chinese Communist Party, who, according to one expert, has...
-
Game Theory, Pain Points, and Economic Vulnerability—A Macro Investor’s Analysis of Trade War 2.0
It’s easy to say that another country is weak, vulnerable, or unable to win in a confrontation. But what about when those claims are backed up by concrete numbers? In this episode, Terri converses with Alexander Campbell, who has an extensive history in global macro investing and a penchant for...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
“China Watch” is a weekly deep dive that pulls back the curtains on one of the world's most enigmatic powers. Join Epoch Times contributor Terri Wu as she deciphers where China is headed next and how its politics, technology, and business affect Americans.
HOSTED BY
The Epoch Times
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does China Watch have?
China Watch currently has 82 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is China Watch about?
“China Watch” is a weekly deep dive that pulls back the curtains on one of the world's most enigmatic powers. Join Epoch Times contributor Terri Wu as she deciphers where China is headed next and how its politics, technology, and business affect Americans.
How often does China Watch release new episodes?
China Watch has 82 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to China Watch?
You can listen to China Watch on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts China Watch?
China Watch is created and hosted by The Epoch Times.
URL copied to clipboard!