Artwork for podcast Trending Globally: Politics and Policy
Challenging the U.S. foreign policy consensus on Taiwan
China Initiative 20th November 2025 • Trending Globally: Politics and Policy • The Watson School
00:00:00 00:42:44

Share Episode

Shownotes

In October, President Trump and President Xi Jinping met for the first time in Trump’s new presidential term. The meeting ended with commitments from both countries designed to lower trade tensions —– something many observers greeted with relief. 

But, according to Watson Senior Fellow and Director of the Watson School’s China Initiative Lyle Goldstein, perhaps more noticeable was what was left out of this meeting; almost all of the pressing security issues that exist between the two countries, including the one Goldstein sees as the “most dangerous of all”– the U.S. relationship with Taiwan.

On this episode, host Dan Richards speaks with Goldstein about the state of U.S.-China relations over Taiwan, why he believes this issue represents one of the world’s greatest risks to human safety, and why now is the moment to reconsider the U.S. foreign policy consensus on this geopolitical flashpoint. 

Learn more about the Watson School’s China Initiative

Read Lyle’s multi-part series on the past, present, and future of US-China relations

Transcript coming soon to our website

Links

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube

More Episodes
Challenging the U.S. foreign policy consensus on Taiwan
00:42:44
The future of US-China relations under a new Trump administration
00:32:00
How Taiwan became “the most dangerous flashpoint in the world”
00:29:46
From Ukraine to Taiwan, Understanding ‘Spheres of Influence’
00:28:21
How the US and China Cooperate (and Compete) on Climate, Covid, and More
00:31:27
China’s Mission to the Moon, and the New Politics of Space Exploration
00:32:50
Chinese Power, Interrupted
00:26:47
How to Cover China, with CNBC’s Beijing Bureau Chief
00:32:39
Behind the Curtain on US-China Relations
00:29:36
China, the US, and Statecraft in the 21st Century
00:34:55
Repression and Surveillance for China's Uyghur Minority
00:24:21
Trump, Tariffs, and the Truth about China
00:11:33