Xi Jinping in America is the story of the week, and Sasha Gong sees Xi Jinping in a way almost no American analyst can. Xi Jinping's own father ordered her release from a Chinese jail, where she spent a year as a young dissident. On this episode of The Jenny Beth Show, Gong tells Jenny Beth Martin what Xi wants from his visit with President Trump, what America should give him, and where the line is. Her rule is simple: give Xi face, do not give him an inch. A presidential greeting at the airport costs America nothing and means everything in Beijing. A trade agreement costs plenty. China wanted its trade truce extended to the end of Trump's term and, by Scott Bessent's account just before Xi landed, got a truce to January instead. Gong explains why Xi is so insecure: a father who spent sixteen years in a communist jail, five in shackles; a boy paraded on a stage at 13 while his mother watched, then sent back by her. She describes the purge of every top leader of China's military, the illusion of power Xi needs more than the real thing, and a Chinese economy that private businessmen inside the country now call hopeless, with almost 19 percent of young workers unemployed and 300 million people who need a job. Sasha Gong is a former China director at Voice of America, a Harvard PhD, and a writer for American Greatness. Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.
Guest: Sasha Gong is a former China director at Voice of America and a former China expert at the AFL-CIO. Born in China, she was sent to the countryside at nine, had three years of schooling before college, and spent a year in a Chinese jail as a young dissident before Xi Jinping's father ordered her group released. She went on to earn a PhD from Harvard, writes for American Greatness, and is now writing books and making films.
Key topics:
• Xi Jinping in the United States this week for talks with President Trump: what Americans should watch
• By Scott Bessent's account, China did not get the deal it wanted: a truce to January, not to the end of Trump's term
• Why not surrendering to China means keeping American AI and rebuilding the industrial base
• AI as the new industrial revolution: something you have to live with, you better own
• China's world AI organization in Shanghai, 26 countries, and why America must lead its own table
• Give Xi face, do not give an inch: why a presidential greeting at the airport costs nothing
• Xi has purged every top leader of China's military: insecurity, not strength
• Xi's childhood: a father sixteen years in jail, five in shackles; a boy paraded at 13 while his mother watched, then sent back by her
• The illusion of power, and why Trump the businessman is giving it to him
• Is China helping Iran? Gong says not much, and Beijing would abandon Tehran when it became useless
• China's economy: almost 19 percent youth unemployment, 300 million who need a job, imports to the U.S. down 25 to 30 percent
• What the CIA learned from the Soviet archives, and whether Xi Jinping knows
• How a reporter who did not like Trump came to back his industrial policy
Timestamps:
00:00 — Welcome and introduction: Sasha Gong on Xi Jinping's visit
01:16 — Who Sasha Gong is: political prisoner, Harvard PhD, AFL-CIO, Voice of America
04:06 — Xi is in America this week: what to pay attention to
04:32 — Bessent: China did not get the deal it wanted; a truce to January
05:51 — Why not to surrender to China: the industrial base and AI
07:17 — Why AI infrastructure has to be American: the new industrial revolution
08:25 — "Something you have to live with, you better own it"
08:56 — China's world AI organization in Shanghai, 26 countries
09:23 — American values in the technology standards
11:30 — Quantum computing and the 1825 railway report
13:30 — What should happen from the visit: give face, not an inch
14:15 — Xi has purged the top of the military: a sign of insecurity
15:28 — Brezhnev and the last Ming emperor: a dictator with no challenger
16:51 — Meeting Xi at the airport: why it costs nothing
17:32 — Xi's history: an insecure man; his father's sixteen years in jail
20:36 — Detained at 13 for a Russian love song
21:40 — His mother sent him back
22:41 — Paraded again, this time welcomed
24:25 — "The elementary school graduate"
25:00 — Pretending to be humble
26:07 — The deep background; when family turns against you
27:33 — Stalin, Mao's purges: "you only have survivors"
29:38 — What Xi wants from America: the illusion of power
31:12 — What Trump wants: a ceasefire in the economic fight
32:15 — Red carpet, not an inch
33:05 — Is China helping Iran?
34:28 — What her contacts in China say; Jimmy Lai
35:19 — China's economy in bad shape: 19 percent youth unemployment
37:48 — Imports from China down 25 to 30 percent; the factories left
39:24 — Ripe to take out the leader? Two million robots
40:19 — The Soviet lesson: does Xi know?
42:08 — What Americans should take from the visit
42:20 — How Trump won over a skeptic
44:36 — "I want something from China"; close
Links mentioned:
jennybethshow.com
teapartypatriots.org