Episode #51: Confrontations with China — on Huawei, COVID-19, and More (Michael Sobolik)

Foreign Policy ProvCast

Michael Sobolik, a fellow in Indo-Pacific Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC, speaks with Mark Melton about recent developments in China. In particular, Sobolik explains new revelations that the Chinese Communist Party is forcing Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang to have sterilizations and abortions, which he wrote about in Newsweek. They also talk about the United Kingdom banning Huawei from building Britain’s 5G network. Sobolik lays out why the United States opposes Huawei on this and what other countries may ban the company from their networks. He wrote about this issue in a report for the American Foreign Policy Council. The two also discuss the importance of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and how this affects geopolitics and US foreign policy. Sobolik also describes what China did to cover up the COVID-19 pandemic and the Chinese Communist Party’s misinformation campaign, which he also covered in The Diplomat and The Hill. Sobolik and Melton also talk about developments in Hong Kong, including the possibility the US and UK will accept refugees from there, and why the US declared this week that it does not recognize China’s claims to offshore resources in the South China Sea. Sobolik’s articles on these topics can be found here: https://www.afpc.org/uploads/documents/Defense_Technology_Briefing_-_Issue_19.pdf https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/to-hold-china-accountable-for-delayed-covid-19-action-target-the-great-firewall/ https://www.newsweek.com/what-china-hong-kong-opinion-1511063 https://thehill.com/opinion/international/502875-pompeo-bet-against-china-and-covid-19-may-prove-him-right