

Great Power Podcast
American Foreign Policy Council
Interested in defending America’s interests in an age of great power competition? Join host American Foreign Policy Council Fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies Michael Sobolik as he explores insights from foreign policy experts, journalists, and policymakers to help craft a solid foundation for America’s grand strategy.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 13, 2022 • 1h 2min
Locking in the China Shift
In this episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik speaks with Josh Rogin, Washington Post foreign policy columnist and CNN political analyst, about the tectonic shifts in America's China policy, how Republicans and Democrats are engaging these shifting dynamics, and what the future of US-China relations could look like.
Guest Biography
Josh Rogin is a Washington Post foreign-policy columnist and CNN political analyst. He has reported for Bloomberg View, the Daily Beast, Foreign Policy, Congressional Quarterly, Federal Computer Week, and Japan's Asahi Shimbun. He lives in Washington, DC.
Resources from the Conversation
Read Josh's book, Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century
Read Josh's reporting about the University of Texas-Austin
Read Josh's reporting about congressional efforts to block legislation honoring Liu Xiaobo
Read background on China's earlier coverup of the SARS virus
Read Josh's reporting about congressional leadership blocking Hong Kong legislation
Read Josh's reporting about congressional Democrats pulling out of the China Task Force
Read Josh's reporting about congressional legislation to compete with China
Read Josh's reporting about the Biden administration's stance on Uyghur human rights legislation

Jan 13, 2022 • 48min
China and the Middle East
In this episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik speaks with Ilan Berman, Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council, about America's and China's competing interests in the Middle East, the fallout of America's withdrawal from Afghanistan, and how the broader region views the burgeoning competition between Washington and Beijing.
Guest Biography
Ilan Berman is Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. An expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as well as the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, and has also provided assistance on foreign policy and national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and congressional offices. He has been called one of America's "leading experts on the Middle East and Iran" by CNN. Mr. Berman is a member of the Associated Faculty at Missouri State University's Department of Defense and Strategic Studies. A frequent writer and commentator, he has written for the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Washington Post and USA Today, among many other publications. He has also edited and published multiple books.
Resources from the Conversation
Read Ilan Berman's book, Wars of Ideas: Theology, Interpretation and Power in the Muslim World
Read Kai Strittmatter's book, We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China's Surveillance State
Liston to AFPC podcast, Disinformation Wars
Subscribe to AFPC's Indo-Pacific Monitor

Dec 13, 2021 • 33min
Peace Through Strength
In this episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik speaks with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) about the Biden administration's foreign policy with China (as well as Russia, Iran, and Afghanistan), and what a "peace through strength" approach would look like instead.
Guest Biography
Ted Cruz has served as the junior United States senator for Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to 2008. He is currently a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and was previously on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Resources from the Conversation:
Read Sen. Ted Cruz's interview with Margaret Brennan on November 21, 2021
Watch Sen. Ted Cruz's interview with Maria Bartiromo on September 19, 2021
Subscribe to AFPC's Indo-Pacific Monitor

Nov 29, 2021 • 35min
China's Strategic Culture
In this episode of AFPC's GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik speaks with Michael Schuman, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub, about the evolution of China's strategic culture throughout its dynastic era - and how it shapes the Chinese Communist Party's practice of foreign policy today.
Guest biography
Michael Schuman the author of "Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World." He is also a contributor to The Atlantic and a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion, and, most recently, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub. Previously, he was a correspondent for TIME magazine and The Wall Street Journal.
Resources from the conversation
Read Michael Schuman's book, Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World
Read Michael Schuman's article in The Atlantic, "Washington Is Getting China Wrong"
Follow Michael Schuman's work at the Atlantic Council
Read Michael Schuman's articles at The Atlantic and Bloomberg
Subscribe to AFPC's Indo-Pacific Monitor

Nov 17, 2021 • 39min
The Past, Present, and Future of Taiwan
In this episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host AFPC fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies Michael Sobolik speaks with Russell Hsiao, Executive Director of the Global Taiwan Institute, about the history of America's complex relationship with Taiwan, China's ambitions to conquer the island, and the political fate of Taiwan in the coming years.
Guest Biography
Russell Hsiao is the executive director of GTI, senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, and adjunct fellow at Pacific Forum. He previously served as a senior research fellow at The Project 2049 Institute and national security fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Prior to those positions he was the editor of China Brief at The Jamestown Foundation from October 2007- to July 2011 and a special associate in the International Cooperation Department at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. While in law school, he clerked within the Office of the Chairman at the Federal Communications Commission and the Interagency Trade Enforcement Center at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Mr. Hsiao received his J.D. and certificate from the Law and Technology Institute at the Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law where he served as the editor-in-chief of the Catholic University’s Journal of Law and Technology. He received a B.A. in international studies from the American University’s School of International Service and the University Honors Program.
Resources from the Conversation
Follow the Global Taiwan Institute
Subscribe to GTI's Global Taiwan Brief
Subscribe to AFPC's Indo-Pacific Monitor

Nov 1, 2021 • 29min
US-China Competition
In this inaugural episode of GREAT POWER PODCAST, host Michael Sobolik speaks with Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of Axios about the way Washington thinks about competition with Beijing, how China views the contest, and where the bilateral relationship is heading in the next few years.
Guest Biography:
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is the China reporter at Axios. Before joining Axios, Bethany served as the lead reporter for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' China Cables project, a major leak of classified Chinese government documents revealing the inner workings of mass internment camps in Xinjiang. Previously, Bethany was an editor and contributing reporter at Foreign Policy magazine and a national security reporter at The Daily Beast. Bethany spent four years in China and is now based in Washington, DC.
Resources from the Conversation
Follow Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian's work
Subscribe to the Axios China newsletter
Read the China Cables project
Read The Wires of War, by Jacob Helberg
Subscribe to AFPC's Indo-Pacific Monitor


