Beyond South China Sea tensions, part two: The CCP vision and the future of Chinese history

Summary: We’re going to continue our exploration of the U.S.-China relationship, which we began last week with our investigation into the history of tensions between the U.S. and Chinese navies in and around the South China Sea. This week we turn our attention to the future. Specifically the how the Chinese Communist Party views its future. Because the more we spoke with analysts and observers about the South China Sea, the more we heard we ought to look not only at that troubled body of water you can spot on a map — but also to the fundamental differences in how China’s leadership views the world, how it views competition with the United States and its allies, and perhaps most importantly, how Chinese leaders view power, control and history. • Chapter one: Staying in power (at the 1:24 mark); • Chapter two: Revising history (19:57); • Chapter three: Some thoughts about how to move forward (37:53). Like last week, our guests include Samantha Hoffman of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute; Elsa Kania of the Center for a New American Security; Greg Poling of the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Andrew Wilson of the U.S. Naval War College (not speaking on behalf of the Navy or the Defense Department); and Pamela Crossley of Dartmouth University. Special thanks as well this week to Paulina Glass. Music by Terry-Devine King, Chris Blackwell and Tim Garland via AudioNetwork.com • Related reading: "Social Credit" by Samantha Hoffman via ASPI: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/social-credit + "Xi’s China Is Steamrolling Its Own History," by Pamela Crossley: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/01/29/xis-china-is-steamrolling-its-own-history/ + "Battlefield Singularity Artificial Intelligence, Military Revolution, and China’s Future Military Power" by Elsa Kania via CNAS: https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/battlefield-singularity-artificial-intelligence-military-revolution-and-chinas-future-military-power