ChinaPower

In this episode, Mona Yacoubian joins Bonny Lin to discuss the current state of the war in Iran, the economic ramifications of the war, and Beijing's evolving relationship with Tehran. The conversation explores China's "stealth support" for Iran and the extent of Beijing's influence over Tehran as well as whether China is using that leverage to help bring the conflict to an end. Mona Yacoubian is director and senior adviser of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This episode was recorded on the afternoon of Monday, October 5, 2026.

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Elizabeth Economy examines the key outcomes of China’s Fourth Plenum and what they reveal about Beijing’s evolving economic priorities and push for technological self-reliance ahead of the release of the 15th Five-Year Plan. She discusses China’s strategy in the U.S.-China trade war, including its expanding retaliatory toolkit, rare-earth export controls, and the global pushback triggered by China’s industrial overcapacity. She concludes by assessing how domestic pressures and external frictions will shape China’s policy direction and its economic engagement with the United States over the next few years. Dr. Elizabeth Economy is the Hargrove Senior Fellow and co-chair of the Program on the US, China, and the World at the Hoover Institution. From 2021 to 2023, she served as the senior advisor for China in the Department of Commerce. Dr. Economy was previously at the Council on Foreign Relations, where she served as the C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and director for Asia Studies for over a decade.

In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, John Culver argues that two seemingly contradictory trends define China’s military this year: Xi Jinping’s sweeping purge of senior PLA leaders and the PLA’s rapid transformation into a far more lethal, joint-capable force. He notes unprecedented vacancies on the Central Military Commission and across theater commands—suggesting corruption is the excuse, not the cause—as Xi prioritizes loyalty and faster progress toward his ambitious reform goals. While 2027 isn’t an “invasion deadline,” Culver says the PLA is racing to meet its centennial benchmarks, with September’s parade showcasing a growing nuclear triad, serious investments in undersea warfare, and expanding unmanned aircraft. He cautions that any U.S.-created “hellscape” around Taiwan can be mirrored by China, which can produce equipment that is combat relevant in the Western Pacific at industrial scale. On gray-zone pressure, he casts China’s Coast Guard as a paramilitary tool and says its ability to run a sustained blockade would hinge on complex command-and-control that it hasn’t yet demonstrated in military exercises. Ultimately, Culver emphasizes that there is much about the PLA that remains unknown from the outside as Xi Jinping purposely keeps information opaque. This episode was recorded on October 15, 2025. John Culver is a nonresident senior fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings. Prior to retiring from the Central Intelligence Agency in 2020, he served since 1985 as an analyst and manager on China, with a particular focus on the People’s Liberation Army. From 2015 to 2018, Culver served as national intelligence officer for East Asia (NIO-EA). He was a founding member of the CIA’s Senior Analytic Service, was in the Senior Intelligence Service, and was a recipient of the CIA’s Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal, and the William L. Langer Award for extraordinary achievement in the CIA’s analytic mission.