China Watch

4.2 (5)
Politics
Updated Weekly

“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.

4d ago

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 powerful leverage points in U.S.–China relations. In this episode, Terri Wu sits down with Carl Coward, co-founder and managing partner of Neoterra, to discuss his vision for the West to break free of its rare-earth dependence on China. Carl breaks down the distinct, highly technical steps in this supply chain, why separating rare earths is so hard outside China, and why he believes only a vertically integrated, profitable Western supply chain offers a durable solution. They also dig into China's "withhold and flood" playbook that has crushed foreign competitors cycle after cycle, and what's at stake as Xi Jinping weighs a Sept. 24 visit to Washington. Finally, Coward gets personal. He reveals why a self-described contrarian with two decades in mining has staked the rest of his career—and a deadline measured in his young daughter's school years—on solving this problem. Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

57 min
Jun 15

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, warning that foreign intelligence services court exactly the people who get pitches like that: journalists, academics, clearance holders, and military personnel. In this episode, Terri brings the puzzle to two veterans of the China file — former State, Defense, and CIA officer Nicholas Eftimiades and former State Department diplomat Jim Lewis — to map the CCP's "whole-of-society" playbook: the recent agent prosecutions (Thomas Pauken, Eileen Wang, Linda Sun), the overseas police stations, the quiet pivot to state and local politics, and why Beijing is betting it can simply wait Washington out. The message is blunt: whether or not that email traces back to anyone in particular, you're already on the front line—and there's plenty you can do about it. Our last year's episode with Nick is here: “How China Spies in America: The Whole-of-Society Model Operation.” Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

35 min
Jun 9

Deceiving Heaven: How America Keeps Getting China Wrong

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 good-faith rival, and how America has been deceived into thinking otherwise, repeatedly, since the 1940s. And they close on something unexpected: the seeds of a peaceful transition to carry China beyond the CCP have been inside Chinese civilization all along. Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

1h 5m
Jun 1

‘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 100-fold. This case is not an isolated case. Join Terri and maritime historian Salvatore Mercogliano in unpacking China’s evolution in maritime dominance and the U.S. response. Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

24 min
May 25

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 putting another aspect of Chinese society under total control. But there's a third possibility. Join Terri in connecting the dots to the ongoing trade war behind this seemingly sudden policy change. Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

21 min
May 19

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 reciprocity." Join Terri as she decodes what the Chinese term really means—and how the regime's intent gets "lost in translation," or perhaps "strategically concealed in translation." This isn't just essential listening for China watchers. It's information Washington needs to hear. Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for The Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

21 min
May 11

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 machinations that determine whether top companies live or die, and how the competitive mentality is set from a very young age. Hear about one of many fallen giants, and how another may be in the same ominous position but still holding on—for the time being. Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

22 min
May 4

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 system is no longer being allowed to run unchecked. Hear about what has changed since Feb. 28, including what has been seized by the U.S. Navy. Find out why this is all happening ahead of the Trump–Xi summit, with Terri Wu on this week’s episode of China Watch. Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. — Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to terri.wu@epochtimes.com. Show your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

29 min

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4.2

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“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.