The Beijing Brief

The level of purges inside the Chinese Communist Party today is unprecedented in the post-Mao era, instilling a sense of fear amongst cadre at every level. On this episode, Joseph Torigian sits down with Ryan Hass and Jon Czin to unpack Xi Jinping's approach to Party discipline and purges in the CCP, compare Xi's outlook on Party politics to his father's and Mao's, and deliberate how Xi's succession may look. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Why is China's economic growth slowing despite rapid technological breakthroughs and dominance in the manufacturing sector? Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow Mary Gallagher and Rhodium Group Partner Logan Wright join Jon Czin on The Beijing Brief to unpack what is driving the slowdown, how it is reshaping state-society relations in China, and what it means for Western economies grappling with China's export surge. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Ryan Hass and Jon Czin are joined by Evan Osnos, a Brookings nonresident senior fellow, to look at China from the ground up. What do people really want and how has that changed over the past decade? And how are they living through a period today of slower growth, tighter control, and rapid technological change? Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

In September, President Xi Jinping made his first state visit to Washington in more than a decade. Ryan Hass, Jon Czin, and Kyle Chan assess what the visit means for U.S.-China relations and where the relationship may be headed under President Trump. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Why has the Chinese Communist Party survived so long, and how does it rule? Jon Czin and Ryan Hass sit down with Minxin Pei, editor-in-chief of China Leadership Monitor, to unpack China's political system, the party's historical dynamics from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping, and the government's foreign and domestic priorities. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

How do you tell China's story when journalism in China is so limited? What is lost when so few reporters remain? Ryan Hass and Jon Czin sit down with former China correspondent Jane Perlez to discuss her favorite beats and stories, the difficulties of reporting in China, how Beijing steers foreign coverage toward "shiny bauble" stories, and the importance of people-to-people exchange between the U.S. and China. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

Ryan Hass and Jon Czin are joined by Brookings Nonresident Senior Fellow Caitlin Talmadge for a special episode of The Beijing Brief from on the ground in Taipei. Drawing on conversations with Taiwanese counterparts, they unpack how Taiwan is thinking about its own defense, why its technology industry is central to its national security, and where Washington's read of the situation falls short. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

As China searches for markets to absorb its excess exports, it has increasingly directed much of that manufacturing overcapacity toward Europe, hollowing out the continent's industrial capacity. On this episode of The Beijing Brief, Ryan Hass and Jon Czin are joined by Constanze Stelzenmüller and Kari Heerman to examine how Europe reached this point, what it can do to safeguard itself and advance its economic growth, and whether it can unify behind a solution.. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

What does the invention of Chinese AI model Kimi K3 mean for Washington and Silicon Valley? In a new explainer for The Beijing Brief podcast, Kyle Chan breaks down the ongoing AI battle between Chinese open-source models and American AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].

America's leading role in the world is eroding under the second Trump administration, raising questions about how China will position itself in the future global order. "We blew it," says historian and Senior Fellow Robert Kagan in conversation with Ryan Hass and Jon Czin on the latest episode of The Beijing Brief. Kagan examines what this could mean for China's ambitions and behavior in the international system. Transcript and show notes. The Beijing Brief is part of the Brookings Podcast Network. Subscribe and listen wherever you listen to podcasts. Send feedback to [email protected].