Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week will likely be remembered as one of the most significant orations of the early 21st century. Carney channeled the fear and frustration of many global leaders when he defiantly declared that the U.S.-led international order is over.

The "rupture" that Carney referenced in his address has profound consequences for China as it moves to reshape a part of this new international order to better align with its interests.

Zongyuan Zoe Liu, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior research scholar at Columbia University, joins Eric & Cobus to discuss why this is such a pivotal time for China as it moves to become a peer power of the United States, at least economically, without triggering the so-called "Thuycides Trap" that dictates this kind of rivalry often leads to war.

Show Notes:

• Foreign Affairs: China's Long Economic War — How Beijing Builds Leverage for Indefinite Competition by Zongyuan Zoe Liu

📌 Topics covered in this episode:

• Mark Carney's Davos speech and the declaration of a global rupture
• The collapse of the rules-based international order
• What a post-American world looks like for middle powers
• Economic coercion and the weaponization of supply chains
• Where China fits in the new global order
• China's long economic war and leverage strategy
• The Global South's trust gap with China
• Why the debt trap narrative persists despite evidence
• China as an opportunity rather than ally in emerging markets
• The rapid erosion of U.S. global credibility

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander | @stadenesque

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

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China was among the first and most vocal opponents of the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro. Curiously, though, when U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch military strikes against Iran as Tehran dealt with a massive popular uprising, China was largely silent.

Both Venezuela and Iran have high-level strategic partnerships with China, yet the Chinese leadership's responses to the crises in each country are radically different.

William (Bill) Figueroa, a leading China-Iran scholar and an assistant professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, joins Eric to discuss his latest CGSP column, which explains Beijing's low-key response and why the strategy is often misunderstood by many U.S. and European stakeholders.

📌 Topics covered in this episode:

• Why Iran's latest protests are more serious than past unrest
• How the crackdown escalated and what makes it unprecedented
• U.S. regime-change talk and the "boxing in China" narrative
• China's real exposure to Iranian and Venezuelan oil
• Debunking the myth of a deep, all-weather China–Iran alliance
• Why Beijing stayed quiet on Iran but reacted strongly on Venezuela
• Hard power limits and why China won't intervene militarily
• The quiet influence China already exerts behind the scenes

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander |

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social

Follow CGSP in French and Spanish:

• French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
• Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas

Join us on Patreon!
Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth

In this special bonus episode, Eric speaks with Kaiser Kuo, host of the popular Sinica Podcast, about China's response to the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro.

Many U.S. and European analysts have framed Maduro's downfall as a "setback" or even an "embarrassment" for Beijing, but while that may be true, Eric argues that it's also premature to make such declarations less than a week after Maduro's downfall. After all, U.S.-led military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya all started well but ended up being very costly failures for Washington.

📌 Topics covered include:

• China's reaction to Maduro's detention
• Why "China setback" claims may be premature
• Beijing's messaging vs. Chinese social media
• Why Venezuela ≠ Taiwan
• China's economic exposure in Venezuela
• The rise and fall of oil-backed loans
• What "all-weather partnership" really means
• Panama Canal risks for China
• Limits of U.S. hemispheric leverage
• China's Latin America knowledge gap
• Beijing's coup-response playbook
• Military lessons—and misreadings
• Instability as a threat to China's trade model
• What signals to watch next

Join the Discussion:

X: @ChinaGSProject | @eric_olander

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@ChinaGlobalSouth

Now on Bluesky! Follow CGSP at @chinagsproject.bsky.social

Follow CGSP in French and Spanish:

• French: www.projetafriquechine.com | @AfrikChine
• Spanish: www.chinalasamericas.com | @ChinaAmericas

Join us Patreon!
Become a CGSP Patreon member and get all sorts of cool stuff, including our Week in Review report, an invitation to join monthly Zoom calls with Eric & Cobus, and even an awesome new CGSP Podcast mug! www.patreon.com/chinaglobalsouth