Sinica Podcast What Does China Want? The Authors of a New Paper Challenge the DC Consensus
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Sep 2, 2025 Join experts Dave Kang, an authority in International Relations, Jackie Wong, who specializes in East Asian studies, and Zenobia Chan, a political scholar from Georgetown, as they dissect their controversial paper on China's global ambitions. They challenge the popular belief that China seeks hegemony, arguing instead that its focus is on regime stability. The trio employs innovative methodologies to decode Chinese political rhetoric, critiques U.S. misconceptions about Beijing’s intentions, and delves into the intricate dynamics of China's Belt and Road Initiative.
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China As A Primarily Status‑Quo Power
- The authors argue China is primarily a status-quo power focused on regime stability rather than global hegemony.
- This challenges the U.S. consensus that drives deterrence and containment policies.
Reevaluate Hegemony‑Based Policies
- Reassess grand strategies that assume China seeks global hegemony because those policies risk unnecessary conflict.
- Consider cooperation opportunities on global challenges rather than defaulting to containment.
Use The Full Corpus To Avoid Cherry‑Picking
- The team built a full universe of authoritative CCP sources to avoid cherry-picking quotes.
- Their systematic approach enables robust cross-checking between hand-coding and computational methods.
