China Desk

In this episode of The China Desk podcast, host Steve Yates interviews Keyu Jin, professor at the London School of Economics and author of The New China Playbook. With deep academic expertise and personal insight as a Chinese economist, Jin unpacks the myths, realities, and misunderstood dynamics driving China's modern economy. They cover the role of the state in China's growth model, shifting demographic challenges, the impact of U.S.-China decoupling, and why applying Western assumptions to Chinese behavior often leads to flawed conclusions. Whether you're a policymaker, investor, or just curious about global economics, this conversation is essential listening.

Steve Yates speaks with Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies at King's College London and author of Why Taiwan Matters. With decades of experience as a diplomat, scholar, and author of nearly 20 books on Chinese politics, Brown breaks down the complex geopolitical puzzle of Taiwan's past, present, and uncertain future. Brown shares his journey from the UK to Asia, explains Taiwan's hybrid identity, and examines how a small island became a critical player in global stability and tech supply chains. From semiconductors and democracy to China's growing nationalism and military pressure, this conversation explores the tangled web of history, economics, and identity that makes Taiwan such a critical—and dangerous—flashpoint for the 21st century.

Steve Yates sits down with David Lin, Senior Director for Future Technology Platforms at the Special Competitive Studies Project and former CIA analyst, to discuss the evolving U.S.-China technology competition. Lin shares insights from his 12 years in government service, including his time at the State Department and the CIA, and explains why he transitioned to the private sector to better tackle the emerging tech threats posed by China. From Made in China 2025 to artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and cybersecurity, Lin details the strategic challenges America faces and the policy shifts needed to maintain global tech leadership. The episode also highlights the upcoming AI+ Expo in Washington, D.C., a major public event bridging government, industry, and academia around cutting-edge innovation.

Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick joins host Steve Yates on The China Desk Podcast for a powerful and emotional conversation about China's one-child policy, forced adoption, and the story behind her latest book, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove. Demick, a former Beijing bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, shares her investigation into the brutal enforcement of population control and the heartbreaking case of twin sisters separated by coercive policies and reunited years later. From her reporting in Sarajevo and North Korea to deep dives into Tibetan life and Chinese orphanages, Demick sheds light on life under authoritarian regimes and the hidden human cost of policy decisions. This episode explores the personal, political, and global consequences of one of the most consequential social engineering projects of the modern era.

In this episode of The China Desk Podcast, host Steve Yates welcomes Susan Crabtree, national political correspondent for RealClearPolitics and co-author of Fool's Gold: The Radicals, Cronies, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All. Susan shares her personal journey from a military family upbringing to a career in investigative journalism, highlighting her reporting on religious persecution in China, the human rights abuses of the CCP, and California's evolving political landscape under Governor Gavin Newsom. Together, they explore California's deepening ties to China through economic, political, and ideological avenues — from controversial PPE deals during COVID to foreign land ownership and Chinese influence in state institutions. Susan also reveals what inspired her to write Fool's Gold and why the California model could be a cautionary tale for the rest of America. Don't miss this insightful conversation on China's influence in U.S. politics, California's unique trajectory, and what it all means for national security and freedom.

In this episode, Steve Yates sits down with Luke de Pulford, co-founder and Executive Director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (iPAC). From his early inspiration by William Wilberforce to launching an international coalition of lawmakers, Luke shares his remarkable journey in human rights, modern slavery advocacy, and China policy. They discuss: - The role of faith and conviction in confronting authoritarian regimes - The origins and global impact of iPAC - The challenges of building consensus across political lines on China - The CCP's growing aggression, transnational repression, and its global consequences - The controversy around the Chinese embassy expansion in London - Why reciprocity in international relations with China is no longer optional This is a deep dive into the intersection of values, strategy, and global security. A must-listen for anyone interested in geopolitics, human rights, and the future of China policy.

Isaac Stone Fish is the CEO and founder of Strategy Risks, a company specializing in assessing and mitigating risks, particularly related to China. A fluent Mandarin speaker with seven years of experience living in China, he has traveled extensively across the country. He authored America Second: How America's Elites Are Making China Stronger (2022), examining the Communist Party of China's influence in the U.S. Isaac is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Truman National Security Project fellow, and contributes to CBS News, the Atlantic Council, and Barron's. A seasoned journalist and academic, his insights have been featured in major global media outlets and leading publications such as The New York Times and The Atlantic.

My guests today are commissioners from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, Randall Schriver and Kimberly Glas. Randall Schriver is the Chairman of the Board of the Project 2049 Institute and a partner at Pacific Solutions LLC. He is also a lecturer for Stanford University's “Stanford-in-Washington” program, is on the Board of Advisors to the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA, and is on the Board of Directors of the US-Taiwan Business Council. Kimberly Glas is president and CEO of the National Council of Textile Organizations. She served previously served as executive director for Blue Green Alliance and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Textiles, Consumer Goods and Materials at the US Department of Commerce. She also worked on Capitol Hill, where her efforts helped lead to the establishment of the House Trade Working Group.

Mark Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, the former executive director of the Asia Business Council, and a former board member at Next Digital. He is editorial chair of the Asian Review of Books, and served as editor in chief of both English-language papers in Hong Kong, The Standard and the South China Morning Post. An honors history graduate of UC Berkeley and a Walter Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, he holds a Ph.D. in Hong Kong history from the University of Hong Kong.

Philip Lenczycki is a Daily Caller News Foundation senior investigative reporter, China watcher, and former professor of Mandarin and East Asian Civilizations. Twitter: @LenczyckiPhilip

Grant Newsham is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Security Policy. He also is a Research Fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies focusing on Asia/Pacific defense, political and economic matters. Newsham is a retired U.S. Marine Colonel and was the first US Marine Liaison Officer to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. He also served as reserve head of intelligence for Marine Forces Pacific, and was the U.S. Marine Attaché, US Embassy Tokyo on two occasions.

Rushan Abbas is a Uyghur American activist and advocate from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. She is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Campaign for Uyghurs. Abbas became one of the most prominent Uyghur voices in international activism following her sister's detainment by the Chinese government in 2018. She testified in 2019 before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in regard to the emergence of concentration camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the threat of Chinese power in the Eastern Pacific. She has also testified before the House of Representatives on international religious persecution, forced labor, and human rights abuses as they relate to Uyghurs.

Dennis Unkovic is an international lawyer, author and business consultant. Over the course of his career, Unkovic has advised corporations and individuals in the United States, Asia and Europe on complex business transactions such as mergers and acquisitions, supply chain issues, and international dispute resolution. He has traveled to 64 countries on behalf of clients and professional organizations, most frequently to People's Republic of China and Japan. The author of twelve books and numerous articles, Unkovic is currently a partner in the law firm of Meyer, Unkovic & Scott LLP in Pittsburg Pennsylvania.

Michael Quinn Sullivan is the publisher of Texas Scorecard. He is a native Texan, a graduate of Texas A&M, and an Eagle Scout. Previously, he has worked as a newspaper reporter, magazine contributor, Capitol Hill staffer, and think tank vice president. Michael and his wife have three adult children, a son-in-law, and a dog. Michael is the author of three books, including "Reflections on Life and Liberty."

Gordon Chang is the author of Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World, released by Random House in January 2006. Showdown focuses on nuclear proliferation in general and the North Korean crisis in particular. His first book is The Coming Collapse of China (Random House, August 2001). He is a columnist at The Daily Beast. Chang lived and worked in China and Hong Kong for almost two decades, most recently in Shanghai, as Counsel to the American law firm Paul Weiss and earlier in Hong Kong as Partner in the international law firm Baker & McKenzie. His writings on China and North Korea have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the International Herald Tribune, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and Barron's.

Jim Fanell is a retired U.S. Navy captain, serving twenty-nine-years in the military. He is the former Director of Intelligence and Information Operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Government Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, and Founding Member of the Committee on Present Danger China. Bradl Thayer, Ph.D., is a founding member of the Committee on Present Danger China and a former visiting fellow at Magdalen College, University of Oxford.

Solomon Yue Jr. is an American Republican Party activist and businessperson. He is the founder and vice chairman and CEO of Republicans Overseas and a Republican national committeeman from Oregon Republican Party.

Commissioner Leland R. Miller is the co-founder and CEO of China Beige Book. A noted authority on China's economy and financial system, he is a frequent commentator on media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg TV, CNN, and FOX Business, and he has served as guest host of two of the financial world's top morning news shows, CNBC Squawk Box and Bloomberg Surveillance. His work is featured regularly in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times, Washington Post and many others. Before co-founding China Beige Book in 2010, Leland was a capital markets attorney based out of New York and Hong Kong and worked on the deal team at a major investment bank. He holds a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law, where he was Hardy C. Dillard fellow and editor-in-chief of the International Law Journal; a master's degree in Chinese History from Oxford University; a BA in European History from Washington & Lee University; and a graduate Chinese language fellowship from Tunghai University (Taiwan). He returned to W&L as the Williams School's Executive-in-Residence in 2015. Leland is an elected member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, an elected life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a board member of the Global Interdependence Center, and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council. Commissioner Miller was appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson for a term expiring December 31, 2025.

Mark Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, the former executive director of the Asia Business Council, and a former board member at Next Digital. He is editorial chair of the Asian Review of Books, and served as editor in chief of both English-language papers in Hong Kong, The Standard and the South China Morning Post. An honors history graduate of UC Berkeley and a Walter Bagehot Fellow at Columbia University, he holds a Ph.D. in Hong Kong history from the University of Hong Kong.

Harry Moser founded the Reshoring Initiative to help bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Largely due to the success of the Reshoring Initiative, Harry was inducted into the Industry Week Manufacturing Hall of Fame 2010 and was named Quality Magazine's Quality Professional of the year for 2012. Harry participated in President Obama's 2012 Insourcing Forum at the White House, won the Jan. 2013 The Economist debate on outsourcing and offshoring, and received the Manufacturing Leadership Council's Industry Advocacy Award in 2014. Harry is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, New Yorker and USA Today and seen on Fox Business, MarketWatch and other national TV and radio programs. He earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Engineering at MIT in 1967, as well as an MBA from the University of Chicago in 1981. Harry and the Reshoring Initiative focus primarily on bringing back as much manufacturing as possible, at the current U.S. level of competitiveness. Secondarily, they work to improve U.S. competitiveness, by advocating for needed policy changes and by strengthening the U.S. skilled workforce. Harry serves on the board of MSSC (Manufacturing Skill Standards Council), a leading manufacturing credentialing organization.

Jacob Helberg is a senior adviser at the Stanford University Center on Geopolitics and Technology and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he is authoring a forthcoming book, Wires of War, on technology policy, China, and U.S. national security. The book is expected to be published in 2021. Helberg is also co-chairing the Brookings Institution China Strategy Working Group, where is helping support and lead research efforts focused on China's intentions, foreign policy, and what the right long-term U.S. strategy should be to meet the challenge. Helberg is also a co-chair of the Brookings Institution U.S.-France Working Group on China, focused on reinvigorating the transatlantic alliance and the bilateral U.S.-France relationship vis-à-vis the global advance of autocracy and the rise of China. He is a senior member of the National Security Action Network and a member of the Manufacturing Leadership Council at the National Association of Manufacturers.

David Moschella is a Research Fellow at the Leading Edge Forum where he explores the global business impact of internet technologies, with a particular focus on disruptive business models, industry restructuring, and machine intelligence. He is a well-known speaker, writer, and thought leader, and is the author of two previous books – Waves of Power (Amacom, 1997) and Customer-Driven IT (Harvard Business School Press, 2003). Previously, he was head of worldwide research for IDC, the largest market analysis firm in the information technology industry. David lives in Boston, MA.

Joseph Cella returns to the China Desk podcast. Joseph is an American diplomat and political advisor, who served concurrently as the United States Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu from 2019 to 2021. A prominent Roman Catholic, Cella co-founded the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and Catholic Vote.

Leon Aron, who was born in Moscow and came to the United States as a refugee in 1978, is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He studies Russian domestic and foreign policy, US-Russia relations, and the economic, social, and cultural aspects of Russia's post-Soviet evolution. From 2014 to 2020, Dr. Aron was a governor of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the operations of several international broadcasting outlets, including Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. From 1990 to 2004, he was a panelist on Looking from America (Gliadya iz Ameriki), a weekly Voice of America Russian-language radio and television show. Dr. Aron has taught at Georgetown University and received the US Institute of Peace's Peace Fellowship. In 2011-12 he was Co-chairman of the Russia Advisory Group of Governor Mitt Romney's presidential election campaign. Dr. Aron is also a prolific writer and editor. His latest book, Riding the Tiger: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the Uses of War (AEI Press, 2023), chronicles, through the use of hundreds of Russian sources, how Vladimir Putin has used militarized patriotism to transform Russian society and maintain his grip on power.

John Moolenaar is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 2nd congressional district since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the Michigan House of Representatives from 2003 to 2008 and the Michigan Senate from 2011 to 2014.

Dan Blumenthal is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on East Asian security issues and Sino-American relations. Mr. Blumenthal has served in and advised the US government on China issues for more than a decade. Before joining AEI, Mr. Blumenthal served as senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the US Department of Defense. He served as a commissioner on the congressionally mandated US-China Economic and Security Review Commission from 2006 to 2012, and he was vice chairman of the commission in 2007. He also served on the Academic Advisory Board of the congressional US-China Working Group.

Sulmaan Wasif Khan is assistant professor of international history and Chinese foreign relations at the Fletcher School, Tufts University.

Michael Sobolik joined AFPC as a Senior Fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies in September 2019. His work covers American and Chinese grand strategy, regional economic and security trends, America's alliance architecture in Asia, and human rights. Michael also hosts Great Power Podcast, AFPC's show about great power competition and U.S.-China relations. He is also the author of Countering China's Great Game: A Strategy for American Dominance (Naval Institute Press, 2024). Michael's analysis has appeared in the Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Politico, Newsweek, National Review, Jane's Defence Weekly, and RealClearDefense. Prior to joining AFPC, Michael served as a Legislative Assistant in the United States Senate from 2014 to 2019. While in the Senate, Michael drafted legislation on China, Russia, India, Taiwan, North Korea, and Cambodia, as well as strategic systems and missile defense. Michael is a graduate of Texas A&M University, where he studied political philosophy as an undergraduate. He also earned his Master of International Affairs degree in American grand strategy and U.S.-China relations at the Bush School of Government and Public Service.

Dmitri Alperovitch is an American think-tank founder, author, investor, philanthropist, podcast host and former computer security industry executive. He is the chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a geopolitics think-tank in Washington, D.C., and a co-founder and former chief technology officer of CrowdStrike.

Joshua Eisenman's research focuses on the political economy of China's development and its foreign relations with the United States and the developing world—particularly Africa. His work has been published in top academic journals including World Development, Development and Change, Journal of Contemporary China and Cold War History, and in popular outlets such as Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, and Foreign Policy. His views have been cited in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist and The New Republic. Eisenman's newest book, Red China's Green Revolution: Technological Innovation, Institutional Change, and Economic Development Under the Commune (Columbia University Press, 2018), received the honorable mention for the 2019 Robert W. Hamilton Book Award. In it he explains how more capital investment and better farming techniques increased agricultural productivity growth in Maoist China. In China Steps Out: Beijing's Major Power Engagement with the Developing World (Routledge, 2018), he worked with Eric Heginbotham to analyze China's policies toward the developing world. Eisenman's second book, China and Africa: A Century of Engagement (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012), co-authored with David Shinn, was named one of the top three books about Africa by Foreign Affairs. Eisenman and Shinn's next volume, under advance contract with the University of Pennsylvania Press, will examine the China-Africa political and security relationship.

Nadia Schadlow is an American academic and defense-related government officer who briefly served in 2018 as Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategy in the Trump Administration. She is the primary author of the 2017 National Security Strategy. She is currently a senior fellow at Hudson Institute and a co-chair of the Hamilton Commission on Securing America's National Security Innovation Base. She conducts research and analysis on a range of issues at the intersection of strategy, national security, and technology. She writes on topics that include the vulnerabilities of US supply chains in areas such as advanced batteries and energetic materials; the relationship between climate and defense policy; and the disconnects between strategy and operational policies.

Dr. George Calhoun, Ph.D., is Director at The Hanlon Financial Systems Center. He has spent 25 years in the high-tech segment of the wireless communications industry. He is a co-founder of InterDigital Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: IDCC), where he was involved for twelve years in the pioneering development of digital cellular technology. Subsequently, he was Vice-Chairman of Geotek Communications, and was Chairman of the company's engineering joint venture with the Rafael Armament Development Authority, a branch of the Government of Israel, based in Haifa, to develop a spread spectrum frequency-hopping radio system for fleet radio communications. Most recently, Dr. Calhoun was the Chairman and CEO of Illinois Superconductor Corporation (AMEX: ISO), a public company focused on the application of high-temperature superconducting materials and advanced signal processing techniques to the suppression of interference in wireless networks.

Ylli Bajraktari is the President and CEO of the Special Competitive Studies Project. Prior to launching SCSP, Ylli served as the Executive Director of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. Before that, he served as Chief of Staff to the National Security Advisor LTG H.R. McMaster, held a variety of leadership roles for former Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work, and served as Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dempsey. Originally joining the Department of Defense in 2010, he served in the Office of the Undersecretary for Policy as a country director for Afghanistan, and later India. Mr. Bajraktari is the recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal – the highest award given to career DoD civilian employees. The Special Competitive Studies Project's mission is to make recommendations to strengthen America's long-term competitiveness as artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are reshaping our national security, economy, and society. We want to ensure that America is positioned and organized to win the techno-economic competition between now and 2030, the critical window for shaping the future.

Congressman Mike Gallagher has represented Wisconsin's 8th District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2017. Mike served for seven years on active duty in the United States Marine Corps, including two deployments to Iraq. Mike also served as the lead Republican staffer for the Middle East and Counterterrorism on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and worked in the private sector at an energy and supply chain management company in Green Bay.

Chris Iacovella is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Securities Association (ASA). Mr. Iacovella is a leading national financial services policy expert whose opinions are frequently sought by regulators, members of congress, the media, and market participants. His subject matter expertise paired with an ability to communicate on complex policy issues makes him one of the principal thought leaders in the country, bringing credibility and recognition to ASA and its regional financial services members. Prior to becoming the CEO of the ASA, he was the CEO of the Equity Dealers of America (EDA) where he launched the association in 2016, successfully branded it with policymakers and regulators, and substantially expanded its membership. Prior to his time at the EDA, he was the Senior Director of Global Government Affairs, Strategy, and Public Policy at Bloomberg, L.P. where he worked directly with Bloomberg's internal businesses on regulatory solutions and interfaced with policymakers and regulators across the globe on capital markets issues. He has deep expertise on equity, fixed income, and derivatives market structure issues, as well as capital formation, SME policy, and wealth management issues.

Joseph Cella is an American diplomat and political advisor, who served concurrently as the United States Ambassador to Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu from 2019 to 2021. A prominent Roman Catholic, Cella co-founded the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast and Catholic Vote.

Divyansh Kaushik is the Associate Director for Emerging Technologies and National Security at the Federation of American Scientists. He holds a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where he focused on designing reliable artificial intelligence systems that align with human values.

Gabriel Noronha joined JINSA in June 2022 as a fellow in the Gemunder Center for Defense and Strategy. From 2019 to 2021, he served as Special Advisor for the Iran Action Group at the U.S. Department of State, where he coordinated policy and directed the State Department's communications and congressional affairs for Iran. From 2017-2019, he worked as the Special Assistant for the Senate Armed Services Committee under Chairmen John McCain and Jim Inhofe, helping write and pass Congress' annual national security legislation. Gabriel worked for U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte from 2015-2016. He previously served as Executive Director of the Forum for American Leadership and works on a range of national security and political projects. Gabriel speaks and conducts research in Russian, Mandarin, and Spanish.

Dmitri Alperovitch is an American think-tank founder, investor, philanthropist, podcast host and former computer security industry executive.

Anders Corr is the publisher of the Journal of Political Risk. In addition to visiting all South China Sea claimant countries, he has undertaken field research in Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Brunei. Dr. Corr conducted analysis for USPACOM, CENTCOM, EUCOM, SOCPAC, and NATO. His latest book is The Concentration of Power: Institutionalization, Hierarchy & Hegemony.

Meg Rithmire is the F. Warren MacFarlan associate professor in the Business, Government, and International Economy Unit. Professor Rithmire holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University, and her primary expertise is in the comparative political economy of development with a focus on China and Asia. Her first book, Land Bargains and Chinese Capitalism (Cambridge University Press, 2015), examines the role of land politics, urban governments, and local property rights regimes in the Chinese economic reforms. A new book, forthcoming with Oxford University Press, investigates the relationship between capital and the state and globalization in Asia, comparing China, Malaysia, and Indonesia from the early 1980s to the present. The book, Precarious Ties: Business and the State in Authoritarian Asia, examines how governments attempt to discipline business and, second, how business adapts to different methods of state control. Her work also focuses on China's role in the world, including Chinese outward investment and lending practices and economic relations between China and other countries, especially the United States.

Jacob Feldgoise is a Data Research Analyst at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology. His work explores U.S.-China technology competition, China's foreign influence, and emerging technologies talent flows. Previously, Jacob worked for the U.S. House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office. Hanna Dohmen is a Research Analyst at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, where she focuses on U.S. national competitiveness in AI/ML technology and U.S.-China technology competition. Previously, Hanna worked as a consultant advising multinational private sector clients on geopolitical, regulatory, and reputational risks. 

Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew has worked at senior levels in the U.S. Congress, serving as a long-time counsel, legislative director, and chief of staff to then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She was a professional staff member on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and also served as a legislative assistant to then U.S. Representative Bill Richardson.Alex Wong is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. His research spans US national security policy and foreign affairs, with a particular focus on US strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and the future of the Korean Peninsula.

Bryan Burack is a Senior Policy Advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific in The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center. Burack's work focuses on China and threats to U.S. national security, U.S. foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region, and supporting federal and state legislative efforts in these areas, including crafting model legislation. Prior to joining Heritage in 2023, Burack served for eight years on Capitol Hill, most recently as Professional Staff Member and Counsel for the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), where he was Congressman Michael McCaul's (R-Texas) lead advisor for Indo-Pacific foreign policy and national security issues. In this role, he drafted, negotiated, and assisted in the enactment of federal legislation to confront threats from the People's Republic of China. 

Andrew Bremberg is an American attorney and political advisor who most recently served as Permanent Representative of the United States of America to the Office of the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva. He previously served as Assistant to the President and the director of the Domestic Policy Council for U.S. President Donald Trump.

Kimberly Reed is an American attorney who served as the Chairman and President of the Export–Import Bank of the United States from 2019 to 2021. Reed previously served as a senior advisor to Treasury Secretaries John W. Snow and Henry Paulson. Reed headed the United States delegation to the inauguration ceremony of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria on May 28, 2019.

Zenel Garcia is an Associate Professor of Security Studies in the Department of National Security and Strategy at the U.S. Army War College. His research focuses on the intersection of international relations theory, security, and geopolitics. Specifically, how interpretations of security and the geopolitical environment shape the discursive and empirical processes of regional formation and transformation in the Indo-Pacific and Eurasia.

Bob Fu is a Chinese-American pastor. In 2002, he founded ChinaAid, which provides legal aid to Christians in China, and has been its president since then. Bob Fu was born in Shandong in 1968 and studied English literature at Liaocheng University in the 1980s.

Michael Stumo is the Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for a Prosperous America (CPA), the leading, national bipartisan organization representing exclusively domestic producers and workers across many industries and sectors of the U.S. economy.

Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian is the China reporter at Axios, where she writes high-impact investigations, exclusives, and analysis about China, with a focus on how China projects power and influence beyond its own borders.  She is also the author of "Beijing Rules: How China Weaponized Its Economy to Confront the World." Bethany is based in Taipei, Taiwan.

Anthony Ruggiero is senior director of FDD's Nonproliferation and Biodefense Program and a senior fellow at FDD. Anthony's broad experience in the fields of counterproliferation and nonproliferation spans more than 21 years, including more than 19 years in the United States Government in both Democratic and Republican administrations.