Gordon Chang: America Still Has the Upper Hand, But China Has These Two Cards

Sun, 24 May 2026 02:09:20 +0000

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In this episode, I sit down with China analyst Gordon Chang to understand how he sees the recent Trump-Xi talks in Beijing.

Who had the upper hand? Why did Trump take seventeen CEOs of America’s largest corporations with him? And what—if anything—was really accomplished?

While Xi Jinping tries to present America as the declining power and China as the ascending power, the reality is China has several grave problems, Chang says: a collapsing demography, an ailing economy, and a military in disarray after a series of military purges.

But China also holds two strong cards: a near monopoly on rare earths processing and critical pharmaceutical precursors.

At the same time, China is winning the information war, Chang argues. “Xi Jinping has been beating the crap out of us in the information warfare space, and that's our fault.”

Where is the future of US-China relations headed? Will Trump call President Lai Ching te—something no US president has done in 47 years? How are shifting alliances in the region reshaping the geopolitical chessboard? And how close are we to a major confrontation? Is the “thucydides trap” narrative real?

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

➡ Follow Gordon on X: @GordonGChang

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