Pekingology

In this episode of Pekingology, Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Gerard DiPippo, Director for Global Macro at Eurasia Group. Henrietta and Gerard unpack the Chinese government's ambitious techno-industrial policy. They discuss the AI race between the United States and China, why it sometimes seems like Beijing can draw on infinite resources to achieve its industrial objectives, whether technology can rescue China's stalling economy, and how Chinese leaders are trying to minimize the country's reliance on the rest of the world.

To learn more, you can read the recent RAND report from Gerard DiPippo, Jonathon Sine, and Benjamin Lenain: China’s Techno-Industrial Strategy in the Xi Era, as well as Gerard's latest work with Eurasia Group.

In this episode of Pekingology, Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Logan Wright, author of the new book Broken China: How the Economic Miracle Shattered and What it Means for the World. Logan argues the Chinese economy is already shrinking, in large part due to its overextended financial system. Logan and Henrietta discuss what happens when the tools on which Beijing relies to control the economy stop working, why China's stalling economy is causing problems for its trading partners​, and how Chinese financial policy may be fueling organized crime around the world.

In this episode of Pekingology, Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Steve Tsang, Director of the SOAS China Institute and co-author of the new book China’s Global Strategy under Xi Jinping, to discuss China’s ambitions under Xi Jinping and the ideas shaping Beijing’s approach to the world.

They discuss the importance of Xi’s personal worldview in understanding Chinese foreign policy, how his consolidation of power has changed foreign policy decisionmaking, and the role of regime security, ideology, and nationalism in shaping China’s national interests. The conversation also explores why China’s vision for a new international order is inherently global, how the Global South concept has become central to China’s broader ideological ambitions and engagement with the world, and how Xi’s recent focus on economic and technological power supports China’s pursuit of global preeminence.

In this episode of Pekingology, Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Ambassador Daniel Kritenbrink, former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam, and Senior Director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, to discuss U.S.-China diplomacy and the upcoming meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Drawing on decades of experience engaging with senior Chinese officials, including Xi Jinping, Kritenbrink reflects on Xi’s leadership style and China’s increasingly confident approach to the United States and the international system. He discusses the role of leader-level diplomacy in managing U.S.-China competition, lessons he learned from preparing for Xi’s 2015 state visit to Washington, and what effective communication between Washington and Beijing looks like behind closed doors.

They also examine what to expect from the Trump-Xi summit, the prospects for maintaining what Kritenbrink describes as a “fragile truce” between the two countries, and the economic, technological, and security issues that will continue to test U.S.-China relations.

In this episode of Pekingology, Henrietta Levin, Senior Fellow with the CSIS Freeman Chair in China Studies, is joined by Kurt Campbell, former Deputy Secretary of State and President Biden’s “Asia Czar.” He is currently Chairman of The Asia Group and Distinguished Fellow in Diplomacy with the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Henrietta and Kurt discuss how Beijing views American power, the development of U.S. strategy towards China, U.S.-China diplomacy and the characters that sat on the Chinese side of the table, and more.

To learn more about Kurt Campbell’s perspectives on China, you can read his April 2025 Foreign Affairs article, co-authored with Rush Doshi, ⁠Underestimating China: Why America Needs a New Strategy of Allied Scale to Offset Beijing’s Enduring Advantages⁠, and his 2016 book, ⁠The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia⁠.