Hoover Institution fellows Misha Auslin and John Yoo welcome one of Britain’s leading experts on China to the podcast: Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China, St. Cross College, Oxford University, and the Director of Oxford’s China Centre. Professor Mitter is the author of Forgotten Ally: China’s War with Japan, 1937-45, and A Bitter Revolution: China’s Struggle with the Modern World.

Professor Mitter discusses the student-led demonstrations of the Tiananmen Square Massacre thirty years later and the 100th Anniversary of the May Fourth Movement. We then turn to the changes in China since Tiananmen and the future of Chinese pluralism after the coming to power of Xi Jinping.

As China tests Japan and Taiwan with air and naval challenges, Hoover Institution fellows Michael Auslin and John Yoo discuss why Japan and Taiwan play important roles in the United States’ Pacific strategy, and what measures the Trump administration can take to help their defense/military. They share their thoughts on why Taiwan is worth protecting, and conclude with a few words on the recent Thai elections.

Hoover Institution fellows Michael Auslin and John Yoo discuss two major developments in Asia. First, they explain why the “failure” of the Hanoi summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wasn’t a failure at all. They then dissect the details of a proposed trade deal between the United States and China, asking whether policymakers miss the boat when they focus on tariffs and trade deficits instead of the theft of American inventions.