Understanding the Real China: Economy, Politics, Taiwan & the AI Contest
Briefing Call: China <> US Relationship A private briefing with one of Asia's most experienced diplomats, joined by former cabinet officials, ambassadors, a special operations commander, and AI researchers. The conversation set out to read China on its own terms: why a political system that runs against the grain of Western history runs with the grain of Chinese history, what three decades of manufacturing strategy actually bought, why Beijing believes time is on its side over Taiwan, how the global south reads a quarrel it never asked to join, and why the AI contest may end not in victory for either side but in a destructive tie. Held under the Chatham House Rule. Selected, unattributed quotes below.
Main Guests
Kishore Mahbubani
Distinguished Fellow, Asia Research Institute, NUS · Former Singaporean Permanent Representative to the UN · Author, Has China Won?
Henrietta Fore
Former Executive Director, UNICEF · Former Administrator, USAID
Admiral William McRaven
Former Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command · Former Chancellor, University of Texas System
Ambassador Marc Grossman
Former U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs · Former Ambassador to Turkey
Jon Finer
Former Deputy National Security Advisor · Former Chief of Staff, U.S. Department of State
Oby Ezekwesili
Economist & policy leader, Nigeria
Ambassador Kenneth Quinn
Former U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia · Former President, World Food Prize
Sean O'Keefe
Former NASA Administrator
Gary Marcus
AI researcher & author
Mo Tiwari
AI researcher, Google DeepMind · Formerly OpenAI & Stanford
Jacob Harold
Former CEO, GuideStar
Avi Loeb
Astrophysicist, Harvard
Doug
Narrative scholar
Jaron Lanier
Computer scientist & author · Microsoft
and more...
From the discussion
The West makes up twelve percent of the world's population. How twelve percent sees China is not how the remaining eighty-eight percent sees China.
“If you want to understand China, don't believe what the Anglo-Saxon media tells you. You get trapped in a blind alley that leads to only one conclusion — that China is going to collapse.
“The Chinese political system goes against the grain of Western history. But it goes with the grain of Chinese history.
“China's share of global manufacturing was five or six percent in 2000. Now it's roughly thirty, and it could hit forty by 2030.
“Walk into the factories and you struggle to find human beings. People will tell you it's the one-child policy and a labor shortage. It isn't. It's that they invested in the most advanced machines to reach the highest productivity.
“Taiwan is the last living symbol of the century of humiliation.
“The worst way to win a war is to fight it. The best way is to win without fighting — and they really mean that.
“Since 1979, China has not fought a major war. Almost fifty years. That's not an accident. That's by design.
“Every war America fights is a gift to China. Every day you spend worrying about one conflict is a day you're not worrying about China.
“Has China won? The answer is no. And the Chinese know they haven't won. They know this is a marathon.
“When you two quarrel, you rock the whole boat — and we're in it with you.
“Neither side should or will win the so-called AI race, for technical reasons. It's much more likely to be a very destructive tie.
“There's been a massive reverse brain drain — thousands of scientists of Chinese origin leaving top American universities to go back.
Digital Battlefield Group convenes senior leaders from government, industry, and academia to discuss intelligence and national security in the age of AI. All events operate under Chatham House Rule.
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