Friday, September 12, 2025 | 2:00 PM EDT
According to a summer 2025 article in International Security, the conventional wisdom in U.S. academic and policymaking circles misunderstands China’s geostrategic and economic goals. The evidence presented by the article’s authors suggests that China is concerned about regime stability and is more inwardly focused than externally oriented. China has long stated its core interests: domestic stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and social-economic development. Not only is there no need for a hostile U.S. military posture in the Pacific, but in fact, the focus on preparing to fight is detrimental to resolving many of the diplomatic, economic, and social issues that face both countries.
In an interview conducted on September 12, 2025, article co-author David C. Kang joins Steve Orlins to discuss how best to understand what China wants, and how the United States should avoid creating problems and isolating itself in ways that are deleterious to U.S. long-term national interests.
Speaker
David C. Kang
David C. Kang is Maria Crutcher Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California. His latest book is Beyond Power Transitions: The Lessons of East Asian History and the Future of US-China Relations, co-authored with Xinru Ma (Cambridge University Press, 2024). He has written six other scholarly books, and has published articles in journals such as International Organization, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Conflict Resolution, and International Security. Dr. Kang is a non-resident fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. A regular consultant for U.S. government agencies and the military, Dr. Kang has also published opinion pieces in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, and appears regularly in media such as CNN, PBC, the BBC, and NPR. A former Fulbright scholar, Professor Kang received his A.B. with honors from Stanford University and Ph.D. from Berkeley.