What Even Is Trump’s China Strategy?

A ChinaFile Conversation

Wendy Cutler, Michael Hirson & more via ChinaFile Conversation

When it comes to China, there are several different factions pushing the Trump Administration in different directions: MAGA nationalists who favor economic, cultural, and possibly military warfare against China; more old-fashioned Republicans who simply distrust the Chinese Communist Party; and the tech elite, especially Trump advisor Elon Musk, who has huge investments in China and doesn’t seem to want cross-Pacific tensions. Trump himself has not said much about China since January 20, but he... Read full story>>

Three Potential Pitfalls of Trump’s Approach to China

Ali Wyne

Many observers argue that the first Trump administration played an important role in consolidating a bipartisan U.S. “consensus” on China, the core element of which is a judgment that Beijing is Washington’s foremost strategic competitor. Documents such as the 2017 national security strategy and speeches by prominent officials—most notably one by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in July 2020—argued that erstwhile China policy had failed, framed China in explicitly adversarial terms, and... Read full story>>

ChinaFile Presents: Shifting Terrain in U.S.-China Relations, Xi Jinping’s Vision for China’s Future

Julian B. Gewirtz & Susan Jakes

On March 11, ChinaFile and the Center for China Analysis (CCA) hosted a conversation between Julian Gewirtz, a historian, China expert, and former senior director for China and Taiwan Affairs at the National Security Council under President Joe Biden, and ChinaFile Editor-in-Chief and CCA Senior Fellow Susan Jakes, about the future landscape of U.S.-China relations under the new U.S. administration. They discussed the Trump administration’s plans to overturn the norms and institutions that have... Read full story>>

‘Survival Comes First’

A Chinese Internet content monitor explains the job

Wang Xiao via China Media Project

Generation Z has now become the primary force among China’s growing ranks of China’s online content moderators, who number in the tens of thousands. Their physical stamina means they generally fare better with the intense demands of the job and can stay up late to respond quickly to issues with sensitive content. They now handle the bulk of the work for major internet platforms when it comes to content moderation. Also known as the “Internet Generation,” Generation Z also includes those born... Read full story>>

Former Chinese Enemies Increasingly Aligned on Taiwan

Taiwan’s KMT is closer than ever to its old nemesis, the Chinese Communist Party. Many Taiwanese who seek to maintain their sovereignty are worried.

Chris Horton

A conservative party pledging to return the country to a glorious imagined past. Massive budget cuts across government ministries. Concerns about foreign influence. An unprecedented challenge of governmental checks and balances as a constitutional crisis looms.This is not the U.S., but rather is the reality that Taiwan has been grappling with for the past year. With its legislature just opened for spring sessions in late February, Taiwan is preparing for a year of domestic political turbulence... Read full story>>

U.S.-Soviet Détente and the Future of U.S.-China Relations

Christopher Chivvis

In the early 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union passed through a period of intense rivalry. The Soviets built the Berlin Wall. A nuclear war almost broke out over Soviet plans to deploy missiles to Cuba. But surprisingly, within a few years relations started to thaw. President Richard Nixon, although a devout anti-communist, announced in his 1969 inaugural address: “After a period of confrontation, we are entering an era of negotiation.” By the end of Nixon’s first term in office,... Read full story>>

Xi Jinping’s Purges Have Escalated. Here’s Why They Are Unlikely to Stop

Wu Guoguang

The final months of 2024 witnessed a new wave of purges in Xi Jinping’s China. On November 28, the Defense Ministry announced the suspension from his duties of Admiral Miao Hua, the number four military leader below Xi, who oversaw the political and organizational work of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Miao’s ouster makes him the third PLA general in charge of political and organizational work Xi has purged, and the second of the six members of the 20th Central Military Commission. An... Read full story>>