Navigating China's Backyard: A Closer Look at China in the Indo-Pacific Region

Countering Chinese Communist Party Influence Around the World

For the kickoff of “Countering Chinese Communist Party Influence Around the World,” leading experts cover China’s own backyard—the Indo-Pacific—to lay the groundwork for their strategic interests and activity around the world. Vandenberg Coalition Executive Director Carrie Filipetti speaks with former Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Feith, and Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for a New American Security, for a closer look at China in the Indo-Pacific region.

In this series, the Vandenberg Coalition shifts the focus beyond the Indo-Pacific and into various regions around the world where the Chinese Communist Party continues to threaten American interests. Each episode in the eight-part series discusses China’s growing influence in a given region, how it measures against American influence, how to define our relationship with the region in light of competing priorities, and what America can and should be doing to better protect and advance our national interests.

Timestamps:

00:00:03 Opening by TVC Executive Director Carrie Filipetti

00:01:03 China’s true aims in Xi’s own words

00:02:23 Xi Jinping’s Leninist ideology

00:05:00 Xi’s attack on the premise of sovereign nation-states

00:06:20 Implications of a future world order with Beijing as central authority

00:08:39 Increasing totalitarian nature of the CCP’s international statecraft

00:11:57 U.S. presidential candidates’ campaign focus on China

00:14:41 Candidates united on identifying the China challenge but differ in policy response

00:16:17 Relation between U.S. semiconductor policy and defense of Taiwan

00:16:53 Taiwan as prerequisite to dominance in the Indo-Pacific

00:18:07 Impact of potential Chinese subjugation or invasion of Taiwan

00:20:03 Potential invasion of Taiwan and the disruption to U.S. economy

00:22:29 Debate on Taiwan in U.S. presidential campaigns

00:26:01 Biden Administration’s recognition of the China problem and its implications

00:26:59 Rhetoric in presidential campaigns around increased defense spending

00:28:34 U.S. leadership of regional military coalitions in countering China

00:31:24 Absence of Western economic coalitions in China strategy

00:32:34 Comparison of U.S. and Chinese military spending and preparedness

00:37:32 International implications of a ‘peaked’ China

00:42:28 Americans’ historical tendency to underestimate adversaries

00:45:49 China’s control of semiconductors and implications for U.S. supply chains

00:46:38 Costs of ‘de-risking’ and impacts on U.S. national security

00:48:46 China’s weaponization of critical mineral supplies

00:52:49 China’s economic and security coercion

00:53:34 The Biden Administration’s diplomatic approach in the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East

00:55:29 Need for a more active U.S. diplomatic approach in offering an alternative to China

00:56:48 Credibility of U.S. commitment to allies

00:59:32 Need for U.S. bilateral trade and investment agreements with TPP members

01:01:38 U.S. ‘pivot’ of military resources to Asia

01:03:33 Continued U.S. presence in the Middle East

01:05:22 U.S. consultation of allies for defense posture, diplomacy, and economic policy

01:09:51 Closing by TVC Executive Director Carrie Filipetti