China, baby, it's all about China
Hello from a wintery Atlanta,
For years, China was handled with kid gloves by the Americans. Xi Jin Ping played Washington well and good. CNN's National Security analyst and author of The Return of Great Powers; Russia, China and the Next World War, Jim Sciutto agree on this basic point.
As the former Chief of Staff for the U.S. Ambassador to China, he tells me there was 100% naiveté from the US government about Beijing's deception.
Now - thanks to Donald Trump, Jim says - the blinkers are off and the threat of China is front and centre for DC's national security worriers.
There's a lot to game-out for 2025, but the competition between China and America is going to be the main global tension point this year, and beyond.
Thanks for listening to this podcast while the rest of the world watches cat videos on Tiktok (and gets their data and movements analyzed by Beijing.)
Cheers,
Robyn