Ep 42: Ian Easton on Xi Jinping and the CCP’s Grand Strategy

School of War

Ian Easton, senior director at the Project 2049 Institute and author of The Final Struggle: Inside China’s Global Strategy, joins the show to talk about Xi Jinping, the ideology that shaped Jinping and by which he rules, and why his vision for the world should not be dismissed. 

Ian Easton, senior director at the Project 2049 Institute and author of The Final Struggle: Inside China’s Global Strategy, joins the show to talk about Xi Jinping, the ideology that shaped Jinping and by which he rules, and why his vision for the world should not be dismissed. ▪️Times  	•	01:56 Introduction	•	02:22 Interested In China	•	05:01 Discovering Taiwan	•	10:32 Perceptions Of The PRC 	•	13:11 How The Chinese Government Works	•	17:47 Who Is Xi Jinping?	•	23:42 The Tactics Of Ideology And Control	•	26:29 The “Scourge Of The Corrupt”	•	29:36 Authentic Socialism	•	31:25 Does China’s Communism Matter?    • 	37:04 The Blending Of Communism And Nationalism	•	43:04 Exporting Xi Jinping Thought    • 	49:19 Absolute Control	•	52:41 Does Xi Jinping Have Rivals?      • 	56:04 Optimisim To Pessimism In Taiwan  	•	01:04:00 It’s Not All Dark

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This podcast seeks to learn what war teaches. There has been a steady decline in the study of military history and its associated theoretical discipline, strategy.This podcast seeks to fill that gap through in-depth interviews on military and diplomatic history.&nbsp; Our guests have included former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis, and China Select Committee chairman Mike Gallagher. We discuss the battlefield commanders, diplomats, strategists, policymakers, and statesmen who have had to make wartime decisions in the ancient and modern eras.The subject of an episode may be an historical battle, campaign, or conflict; the conduct of policy in the course of a major international incident; the work of a famous strategist; the nature of a famous weapon; or the legacy of an important military commander or political leader.&nbsp;&nbsp; Aaron MacLean is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He has worked as a foreign policy advisor and legislative director to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps. <a href="https://schoolofwar.substack.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Visit our Substack for episode transcripts</a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/school.of.war/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Follow along on Instagram</a>