From Chimerica to Cold War II: how US-China relations soured
Chinese Whispers24 Mar 2025

From Chimerica to Cold War II: how US-China relations soured

** Chinese Whispers is coming to an end. Later this year, Cindy Yu will be joining The Times and The Sunday Times to write a regular column on China. To stay abreast of her latest work, subscribe to her free Substack at chinesewhispers.substack.com **

It’s easy to forget that, as recently as the start of this century, the US was China’s biggest ally. Washington saw Beijing as a necessary bulwark against Moscow, and consistently supported China’s entry into the world economy ever since rapprochement in the 1970s, including its accession to the World Trade Organisation.

These days, the relationship couldn’t be more different. Why have relations cooled quite so fast? When was the turning point? And can we now say that rapprochement was a strategic mistake from the US?

Bob Davis is a former senior editor at the Wall Street Journal, who was posted to China between 2011 and 2014. In recent years, he has been conducting a long running series of interviews - with dozens of high level officials over successive American administrations - for the online magazine, The Wire China. He has interviewed defense secretaries, ambassadors, national security advisors, treasury secretaries and more. Now, these interviews have been collated into a new e-book released by The Wire China: Broken Engagement.

Through these interviews, we can see the changing direction of US-China relations through the eyes and words of those at the very heart of America’s decisions. Bob joins this episode to tell us all about it.

Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.


For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts.


Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(122)

Why do people join the CCP?

Why do people join the CCP?

At last count, the Chinese Communist Party has 98 million members, more people than the population of Germany. Its membership also continues to grow, making it one of the most successful and resilient...

5 Feb 202446min

Was China's economic boom 'made in America'?

Was China's economic boom 'made in America'?

Today, the US and China are at loggerheads. There’s renewed talk of a Cold War as Washington finds various ways to cut China out of key supply chains and to block China’s economic development in areas...

22 Jan 202453min

What lies at the root of the India-China rivalry?

What lies at the root of the India-China rivalry?

India is the fifth largest economy in the world, and now has a population larger than China’s. It’s no surprise, then, that officials in Washington often see India as a powerful non-western bulwark to...

8 Jan 202445min

Who will be Taiwan's next President?

Who will be Taiwan's next President?

Taiwan goes to the polls in just over a month. This is an election that could have wide repercussions, given the island’s status as a potential flashpoint in the coming years.The incumbent President, ...

11 Des 202342min

Dialect and identity: is Mandarin bad for China?

Dialect and identity: is Mandarin bad for China?

Across the span of China, a country as big as Europe, there are countless regional dialects and accents – perhaps even languages. Often, they're mutually unintelligible.The Chinese call these ‘fangyan...

28 Nov 202343min

Battling the official narrative – China's 'underground historians'

Battling the official narrative – China's 'underground historians'

Controlling history is key to the Chinese Communist Party’s control of the country. Whether it’s playing up the ‘century of humiliation’, or whitewashing past mistakes like the Great Leap Forward or t...

13 Nov 202335min

Rethinking Chinese food with Fuchsia Dunlop

Rethinking Chinese food with Fuchsia Dunlop

All cultures care about their cuisine, but the Chinese must have one of the most food-obsessed cultures in the world. It may be because we have the best food...Those listeners of Chinese Whispers who’...

30 Okt 202350min

'The mask has slipped' – Tuvia Gering on China, Israel and Hamas

'The mask has slipped' – Tuvia Gering on China, Israel and Hamas

When China brokered a historic detente between Saudi Arabia and Iran earlier this year, it seemed that a new phase in world history – and certainly in Chinese foreign policy – had opened up. Instead o...

16 Okt 202343min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
popradet
stopp-verden
fotballpodden-2
dine-penger-pengeradet
det-store-bildet
rss-gukild-johaug
i-retten
nokon-ma-ga
hanna-de-heldige
e24-podden
rss-ness
aftenbla-bla
rss-dannet-uten-piano
frokostshowet-pa-p5
grasoner-den-nye-kalde-krigen