The China Paradox That Will Define the 21st Century

On this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast I talk with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, historian and author of The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asia’s Struggle Against Autocracy and Beijing.

He explains how China tells three crucial stories: the story it tells itself to maintain legitimacy, the story it tells the world to project power, and the underground tales that threaten both narratives.

Wasserstrom also takes us into the “Milk Tea Alliance” connecting young activists across Asia to the Chinese bookstores now operating in exile in Washington, DC. In doing so, he reveals how ideas of resistance travel across borders even as authoritarianism spreads globally.

As Trump faces the challenge of negotiating with Xi, and as China leverages America’s own democratic struggles to expand its influence, Wasserstrom offers a way to understand these competing narratives.