China Watch

The U.S. bunker-busters that ended the 12-day war in Iran sent metaphorical shockwaves all the way to the Far East.The Chinese regime’s rhetoric has long been that of a “rising East” and “declining West.” But these strikes have flipped that narrative on its head.The sudden and decisive action of the United States may have taken the wind out of the Chinese Communist Party’s sails.The Chinese have one word—勢 (Shì)—for momentum or posture. But the character also carries further meaning: it’s the mystical luck that one needs to command the world.Join Terri as she analyzes how the complex moving pieces in this short conflict have shifted the geopolitical landscape for both the United States and China, as their complicated relationship continues to go through abrupt but meaningful changes.Related Report:The Secret 15-Year Plan Behind US Strikes on Iran (Read)How Iran War Exposed Limits of Chinese Influence in Region (Read)Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

Everyone knows that history often repeats itself. Today, we’ll look at a case where people are actively seeking to repeat history. Nearly 3,000 years ago, a famous chancellor in China successfully used trade to expand the power and territory of his state.Today, the Chinese communist regime has borrowed strategy from the same playbook.How China has used its rare earths trump card may reveal the regime’s major weakness.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

Back in May, I spoke with Professor Li Shaomin, a painter who created propaganda for the Chinese communist regime, including portraits of former leader Mao Zedong. I hoped he would help me resolve my emotional dilemma mentioned several episodes ago in “U.S.-China Breakup: It’s Getting Personal.”When the Trump administration began revoking Chinese student visas earlier this month, my identity as a Chinese-American was shaken to the core. So I asked Professor Li to help me understand why I was having this reaction.Well, he’s back on the show. And what he told me was beyond my expectations.He demystified CCP propaganda for me by speaking of his own experience, and helped me identify its residual effects still within me, and granted me more inner freedom.He also has advice for Americans who want to help their Chinese friends navigate this new era of U.S.–China conflict.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

Welcome to an extra episode of China Watch.In this interview with AI expert Ethan Tu, we talked about the natural divergence between the AI supply chains led by the United States and China.How much of our impression of China’s AI leadership is shaped by Chinese propaganda? How has China redefined the game to look like it’s ahead of U.S.?And what are the hidden ideological and technical risks in China’s AI products?Here’s how that conversation went.Read the full transcript here.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

The AI race is the defining aspect of the U.S.–China competition, similar to the previous Space Race between the United States and the former Soviet Union.Rather than a competition in space, the AI race is happening around us in our daily lives more than many of us realize.Join Terri as she unpacks the high stakes of the U.S.–China contest and the key drivers that will determine the winner.This episode also shares viewpoints from leading experts in the field whom she spoke to during the recent AI+ Expo in Washington.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

The new visa policy for Chinese international students marks another major shift in the U.S.-China decoupling. It’s getting personal.The potential impact is way bigger than tariffs.It’s also personal for host Terri Wu because she came to America as a Chinese student.There’s a lot to unpack: national security concerns, personal concerns, and emotional reactions.The count of Chinese students in the United States began with 52 in 1978. Five years after that, it increased to 100,000. Today it's about 277,000.Allowing Chinese students to study in the U.S. was part of the “People’s War” strategy deployed by Deng Xiaoping.One expert, John Lenczowski, a former senior official in President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council, said there are 25,000 Chinese intelligence collectors in Silicon Valley alone.Join Terri as she explores the historical—and the emotional—aspects of the complex relationship between the United States and China, and by extension, the people of the two countries.Related report:Targeting Military Installations, IP Theft: A Look at Criminal Cases Involving Chinese Students (Read)Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

He created propaganda by painting Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong’s portraits.He studied in America to try to figure out a way to help China’s economy.But with free access to information in the West, he realized that his world views were not grounded in reality—they were shaped by the regime’s propaganda, which he now calls a mass “brainwashing project.”Li Shaomin, professor of international business at Old Dominion University in Virginia, lived through China’s communist propaganda and outgrew it.He shares his intriguing life story of how he deciphered Chinese propaganda—narrative by narrative.Related Article:How the Chinese Regime Uses YouTube to Influence Americans (Read)Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

Nvidia’s Jensen Huang once said that humanoid robots are the only AI product that can scale because they can do what humans do.The sector is on the cusp of mass production this year. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) may produce more than 10,000 units by 2027. One unit has already joined the police force, patrolling the streets in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.The CCP is also developing AI weapons that are increasingly capable of making their own decisions.Which company is supplying the CCP with the chips it needs to fuel its AI race? Some analysts think it’s Huawei, the Chinese smartphone company banned by the first Trump administration in 2019.Listen as Terri unpacks China’s AI landscape.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Enjoyed this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

In this bonus episode, we’re not just going to rehash tariffs—we’ve heard enough of that. We’re going to talk about the scheming of China’s negotiators.This topic is so significant that I rushed to talk to my favorite experts. So, how should we understand communist-Chinese deal-making? Join us as we lay out Beijing’s “Art of the Deal.”Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

In June, another 12 million students in China will graduate from college. About 7 million of them will enter the job market, and the remainder will pursue advanced studies.The influx of new workers is expected to strain a job market already defined by a high youth unemployment rate.As a consequence, fewer young people are getting married in China—they cannot afford to. Many of them have to rely on their parents, who are also facing their own economic challenges.Meanwhile, Beijing hasn’t been transparent about its economic data. How do we know where China is heading, and what we should be on high alert for?Here’s the trick to understanding China’s data. Let’s look at metrics that are harder to lie about.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

Exports made up one-third of China’s economic growth last year.If Beijing doesn’t resolve its tariff standoff with the United States soon, it will lose tens of millions of jobs.That will drive China’s economy into depression, experts say.Listen for more details that the Chinese regime doesn’t want you to know.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

If you are confused and fatigued by the China tariff news, listen to this episode.We cancel the noise for you and show you what matters in the trajectory of U.S.-China relations. Reports covered in this episode:In First 100 Days, Trump Reorganizes the Chess Board Against China (Read)Chinese Exporters Begin to Feel Pain of Tariffs as Containers Stack Up (Read)Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. —Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

Xi Jinping’s drunk fight in the late 1980s offers a glimpse of his personality.The two leaders also face different domestic pressures. In addition, Xi has an extreme option he could use in the battle.Read the original report:With Tariff Escalations, US and China Enter a New Era—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

Experts say U.S.–China relations have crossed a key threshold. A showdown between the world’s largest and second-largest economies has begun.Read the original reports:With Tariff Escalations, US and China Enter a New EraWhy US Has Upper Hand Over Beijing in Tariff StandoffViews expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. —Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.

A lot is going on in China, aside from tariffs. In this episode, we present a unique analysis of Xi Jinping’s grey hair, the serial disappearances of Chinese generals, and how they are connected to a well-known Chinese prophecy.Show Notes:Poem No. 46有一軍人身帶弓 只言我是白頭翁東邊門裡伏金劍 勇士後門入帝宮There is a soldier carrying a bow,A voice says, I’m just an old, white-haired man.A golden sword is hidden in the east gate.A warrior enters the palace through the back door.—From “Tui Bei Tu” 推背图, a collection of prophecies from 7th century China.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. —Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.—Icon Art courtesy of Library of Congress Online Catalog. It’s a slightly different version from the text quoted in the episode. Similar to many ancient books, “Tui Bei Tu” went through variations.

President Donald Trump has imposed an additional 20 percent tariff on all goods made in China, citing a national emergency on the continued trafficking of fentanyl—a deadly opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine—into the United States.To this day, China remains the primary source of fentanyl precursors, which are shipped to Mexico, where they’re manufactured into the illicit drug. It is then smuggled into the United States mainly via the southern border.The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has called the fentanyl epidemic the United States’ “own problem” and has cast the U.S. tariffs as “blackmail.”However, Yuan Hongbing, a former law professor at Peking University in China who now lives in Australia, said the American opioid epidemic is far from the self-inflicted wound the CCP has suggested it is.The China expert, who has insider access to senior CCP leaders, further stated that fentanyl is at the core of Xi Jinping’s bid to “take revenge” on the West.Read the Original Report:China’s Role in US Fentanyl Crisis Directed by Regime Leadership, Expert SaysClips Played:President Trump Addresses House Republican Issues Conference via C-SPANViews expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. —Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] this podcast? Follow China Watch for a peek behind the red curtain.