Orville Schell, Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations, shares his extensive expertise on China and U.S.-China dynamics. He delves into Xi Jinping's shifting worldview and the factors behind China's pivot towards self-reliance after years of globalization. The conversation also highlights the challenges of technological decoupling, the geopolitical risks tied to supply chains, particularly regarding Taiwan, and the intricate semiconductor landscape crucial for both nations' futures.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin loom over geopolitics in a way that few leaders have in decades. Not even Mao and Stalin drove global events the way Xi and Putin do today. Who they are, how they view the world, and what they want are some of the most important and pressing questions in foreign policy and international affairs.  Stephen Kotkin and Orville Schell are two of the best scholars to explore these issues. Kotkin is the author of seminal scholarship on Russia, the Soviet Union, and global history, including an acclaimed three-volume biography of Stalin. He is a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Kleinheinz Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Schell is the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society. He is the author of 15 books, ten of them about China. He is also a former professor and dean at the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.  In part one of our conversation, we discuss the early lives of Putin and Xi and how history has shaped their worldviews. You can find transcripts and more episodes of The Foreign Affairs Interview at https://www.foreignaffairs.com/podcasts/foreign-affairs-interview.

How did Xi Jinping’s formative years influence how he views the world today? Veteran China scholar Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations, looks back at decades of writing and working on China, weathering the cycles of the country opening up and shutting down and gives his two cents on what’s going on in Xi’s head.We also discuss—  Why Mao Zedong is a better read than Xi— China’s reciprocity problem on the international stage— How US officials reacted to Tiananmen in a secret meeting with Deng Xiaoping— A history of accessing China for academics, businesspeople and journalists— Xi and victim cultureOutro Music: Glenn Gould performing Contrapunctus, I, IV from Bach’s amazing Art of the Fugue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqDCieiDWAECheck out the newsletter at ChinaTalk.media! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Orville Schell, China expert from the 1980s, discusses Deng Xiaoping's visit to the US, the Democracy Wall movement, and Tiananmen Massacre. He highlights the economic shifts, political changes, and societal transformations in China during the transformative decade of the 1980s.

Kishore Mahbubani and Orville Schell discuss US-China relations and global order, exploring economic power shifts, strategic competition, and the impact on Southeast Asia. They delve into China's rise, geopolitical tensions, South China Sea disputes, and the complexities of US-China relations, emphasizing the need for pragmatic management and cooperation to address global challenges.