The President’s Inbox

Matt Pottinger, senior advisor at the Marathon Initiative and chairman of the China Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss China’s ambitions and what they mean for the United States.

 

Articles Mentioned in the Podcast

 

Michael Beckley and Hal Brands, “The End of China’s Rise,” Foreign Affairs, October 1, 2021.

 

Bilahari Kausikan, “In U.S.-China Standoff, Is America a Reliable Ally?,” Foreign Policy, October 18, 2021.

 

Matt Pottinger, “Beijing’s American Hustle,” Foreign Affairs 100, no. 5 (September/October 2021).

 

Liza Tobin, “Xi’s Vision for Transforming Global Governance: A Strategic Challenge for Washington and Its Allies,” Texas National Security Review 2, no. 1 (November 2018).

 

Books Mentioned

 

Dan Blumenthal, The China Nightmare: The Grand Ambitions of a Decaying State, (AEI Press, 2020).

 

Rush Doshi, The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order, (Brookings Institution Press, 2021).

Miles Kahler, senior fellow for global governance at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the recent Pandora Papers leak, and the broader problem of global corruption.

Manjari Chatterjee Miller, senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at CFR, speaks with James M. Lindsay about what India sees as its interests, threats, and opportunities in the world.

Constanze Stelzenmüller, Fritz Stern chair on Germany and trans-Atlantic relations in the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss what the end of the Angela Merkel era means for Germany and its relations with the world.

Adam S. Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss how the United States has become less open to trade in recent decades and why calls for even more protectionism will further undermine the American middle class.

Elbridge A. Colby, cofounder and principal of the Marathon Initiative, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss whether and how the United States should revise its defense strategy to face its current challenges. Colby’s new book, The Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict, hits bookstore shelves today.

 

Peter Martin, defense policy and intelligence reporter for Bloomberg News, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the growing assertiveness of China’s diplomacy in recent years. Martin’s new book, China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy, was released this past June.

Alice C. Hill, David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the steps policymakers, business leaders, and others need to take to address the changing climate. Hill’s new book, The Fight For Climate After COVID-19, will be published in September 2021.

Michelle Gavin, senior fellow for Africa Studies at CFR, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the fighting in northern Ethiopia between federal government forces and regional Tigrayan forces.

Oriana Skylar Mastro, center fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) and non-resident senior fellow at American Enterprise Institute, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss whether China might use force to compel Taiwan’s reunification with the mainland. Mastro’s recent article, “The Taiwan Temptation: Why Beijing Might Resort to Force” is available on foreignaffairs.com.