The US-China Podcast

China & the Hill is now on Substack!  China & the Hill is a weekly newsletter covering Washington DC’s China-focused debates, actions, and reactions. Readers will receive a curated digest of each week's most pressing U.S.-China news and its impact on businesses and policy, and can listen to the top stories in podcast form on the U.S.-China Podcast.

China’s soft power strategy has been largely unable to resonate with global audiences, but Labubus have taken the world by storm. From Thailand to Texas, Pop Mart stores are popping up to satiate consumers’ desire for these collectable toys. Contrary to state-backed soft power strategies, Labubus tapped into organic market-driven trends, such as blind-box culture, to reach a wide and dedicated audience. Labubus can also serve as a gateway to China, introducing people to Chinese artists and incentivizing them to visit POPLAND in Beijing to collect exclusive toys. Are Labubus the exception to China’s previous soft power pursuits, or a sign of a successful new strategy?  Natalia Cote-Muñoz joined us in September 2025 to share how Labubus are resonating across different cultures and changing the way people perceive China.  Learn more about the speaker and watch the video  

China & the Hill is now on Substack!  China & the Hill is a weekly newsletter covering Washington DC’s China-focused debates, actions, and reactions. Readers will receive a curated digest of each week's most pressing U.S.-China news and its impact on businesses and policy, and can listen to the top stories in podcast form on the U.S.-China Podcast.

How does China want the world to work? Beijing views the current global governance system as one that skews unfairly in favor of Western powers. China seeks to reshape the dynamics in international organizations in pursuit of its own goals, mimicking the multilateral foreign policy that the United States pursued during the Cold War. However, unlike the United States, China prefers to build economic partnerships instead of military alliances – such as through BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Agreement, or the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. How does China’s alternate vision for global governance differ from the United States’ and will it resonate with the rest of the world?  Olivia Cheung joined us in May 2025 to discuss the ways China wants to change the global governance system and how it engages with multilateral institutions.  Learn more about the speaker and watch the video here. This interview is part of our Faultlines series that examines the strategic differences between the United States and China. The two nations differ in how they see economic, military, cultural, and governance issues, but was this always the case?  By examining the view from both sides of the faultline we can piece together how we got here and where we’re going next. 

What is global governance and why does the United States care about it? Esther Brimmer joined us in June 2025 to discuss the United States' role in global governance systems and what future realms of global governance can look like. Learn more about the speaker and watch the video here. This interview is part of our Faultlines series that examines the strategic differences between the United States and China. The two nations differ in how they see economic, military, cultural, and governance issues, but was this always the case?  By examining the view from both sides of the faultline we can piece together how we got here and where we’re going next. 

China & the Hill is now on Substack!  China & the Hill is a weekly newsletter covering Washington DC’s China-focused debates, actions, and reactions. Readers will receive a curated digest of each week's most pressing U.S.-China news and its impact on businesses and policy, and can listen to the top stories in podcast form on the U.S.-China Podcast.

On June 22, 2025, the United States launched a preventive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, a decision that reverberated beyond the Middle East. How might this action reshape thinking about deterrence in the Taiwan Strait? The strike has raised broader questions about U.S. strategy, the credibility of its security assurances, and the potential role of preventive military force in future conflicts.  In a conversation recorded on September 5, 2025, M. Taylor Fravel, Amanda Hsiao, and Jennifer Staats consider what the Iran strike signals about Washington’s willingness to use force and implications for Taiwan, East Asia, and the future of U.S. military strategy.   About the speakers  

How is the United States trying to grow and safeguard its economic strength? Wendy Edelberg joined us in June 2025 to discuss the United States' role in the global economy and what the U.S. trade deficit with China means. Learn more about the speaker and watch the video here. This interview is part of our Faultlines series that examines the strategic differences between the United States and China. The two nations differ in how they see economic, military, cultural, and governance issues, but was this always the case?  By examining the view from both sides of the faultline we can piece together how we got here and where we’re going next.   

China & the Hill is now on Substack! → This week's edition China & the Hill is a weekly newsletter covering Washington DC’s China-focused debates, actions, and reactions. Readers will receive a curated digest of each week's most pressing U.S.-China news and its impact on businesses and policy, and can listen to the top stories in podcast form on the U.S.-China Podcast.

Basketball is more than a favorite American pastime. It has expanded into a global cultural movement that combines sports, fashion, and lifestyle. Chinese players such as Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin drew attention to untapped basketball talent in Asia and helped bring basketball culture to China. The Asian University Basketball League (AUBL) taps into that energy through elevating Asian university-level basketball competition on the continent. The AUBL, drawing from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States for inspiration, seeks to capture and shape a uniquely Asian basketball fan culture. How is Asia a new frontier for one of America’s biggest sports exports?  AUBL CEO Jay Li joined us in August 2025 to share the future of university-level basketball in Asia and its potential to bridge people across countries.