Talks on China China Research Group

Alicia Kearns and Charlie Parton discuss the United Front Work Department.

Our podcast is back! In this episode Alicia Kearns MP and Professor Steve Tsang will go in depth into CCP influence in UK universities.

In early October, the US government rolled out extensive new restrictions on China’s access to advanced semiconductors, which play a central role in sectors such as quantum computing and weapons manufacture. The order by President Biden is unprecedented in modern times and is designed to cut China’s legs off as Washington and Beijing compete for technological advantage.



Chris Cash is joined by Sarah Bauerle Danzman, Associate Professor of International Studies at Indiana University and non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, to discuss the reasons behind these restrictions and their knock-on effects around the world.



Why is the US going down this route now and how did we get here? For the US and its desire to stay ahead of a fast advancing China, will these restrictions be enough? What are the global implications of the acceleration of the balkanisation of key supply chains and what do US allies make of the restrictions?

If China seems unstoppable, so too can its leader Xi Jinping. And yet we know very little about the man who commands over 1.4 billion people, in a vast country that spans prosperous megacities and desperately poor rural regions.

Chris Cash is joined by Adrian Geiges and Stefan Aust, authors of the newly-translated biography ‘Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World’, to discuss the story of Xi’s life and career, what he really wants, and how he is positioned ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress.

How did Xi develop his ideological convictions and why do we struggle to understand them? Why does he have an uneasy relationship with the legacy of Mao? What are the greatest challenges to his rule?

You can purchase Adrian and Stefan’s must-read biography here.

In April 2022, Xi Jinping announced the Global Security Initiative (GSI), a new Chinese foreign policy initiative proposed as a solution to a rapidly deteriorating international security environment. Some view the initiative as China’s latest bid to tilt the rules-based global order in its favour, but what does it actually mean for the future of the international security architecture?

Chris Cash and Archie Brown are joined by Ovigwe Eguegu, a policy analyst at Development Reimagined who has written extensively on China-Africa security engagement, to discuss the GSI's key concepts and its implications for the future of China's engagement within the developing world.

What is the GSI? Does the combined package of the GSI and the Global Development Initiative announced last September mark a shift away from the Belt-and-Road Initiative’s investment-driven model of engagement? How are these initiatives likely to be received in the developing world?

You can read Chris's latest paper on the GSI, written in conjunction with the Council on Geostrategy, here.

In response to US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, Beijing conducted large-scale military exercises across the Taiwan Strait. Its actions have been met with international alarm, with commentators declaring this as a ‘new normal’ for cross-strait relations.

Chris Cash and Archie Brown are joined by Alessio Patalano, a Professor of War and Strategy in East Asia in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, to discuss these military exercises and their implications for the future of cross-strait relations and regional stability.

Why did Beijing feel compelled to launch such a robust military response to Pelosi's visit? What are the implications of Beijing’s efforts to normalise increased military aggression across the Strait? How have key stakeholders such as the US and Taiwan responded? How can the UK and its European partners help to de-escalate the situation?