From the Archive: How the Past Shadows China's Future: A Conversation With Odd Arne Westad

From the Archive: How the Past Shadows China's Future: A Conversation With Odd Arne Westad

From The Foreign Affairs Interview by Foreign Affairs Magazine

August 13, 2026 · 60 min

About this episode

Dan Kurtz-Phelan interviews historian Odd Arne Westad about how China's past influences its current global ambitions and relations, particularly with the United States.

At the end of last year, editor Dan Kurtz-Phelan spoke with the historian Odd Arne Westad about China’s complicated past and how that history shapes the way Chinese leaders see their country’s place in the world today. Policymakers and analysts argue over the implications of China’s rise, the extent of its ambitions, the nature of its economic influence, and the meaning of its growing military strength. Underlying these arguments is a widespread sense that where Beijing once seemed likely to slot comfortably into a U.S.-led international order, China now poses a profound challenge to American interests. And as leaders in Beijing watch Washington struggle against Iran, rankle allies and partners, and retreat from the international system it built, they sense a moment of opportunity—and are looking to their own history for the lessons, or warnings, it might hold. No one brings more perspective to these arguments than Westad. In a series of essays in Foreign Affairs over the past few years, Westad has explored the drivers of China’s foreign policy, its approach to global power, and its fraught ties with the United States. He sees in the long arc of Chinese and global history a stark…

People in this episode

Host: Dan Kurtz-Phelan

Guest: Odd Arne Westad

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Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Foreign Affairs

Places: China, United States, Washington, Iran

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