Rush Doshi on Trump, Taiwan and tariffs.

Plus, the viral scooter thief. | |

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Weekly newsletter | March 23rd, 2025

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| Good evening. In case you missed it, on Friday we published a piece about Lip-Bu Tan, the new CEO of Intel who has been a prolific investor in China’s chip industry for four decades. It’s a fascinating story, in part because it gets at so many of the nuances and challenges of U.S. tech policy towards China. Tan is widely seen as Intel’s best chance to succeed, which the U.S. government wants and needs, but he is also, as one source put it, the “poster child” for more government intervention. Elsewhere, we are pleased to share an excerpt from Emily Feng’s new book, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China, as well as an interview with Rush Doshi on Trump, Taiwan, tariffs and Biden’s China legacy; a reported piece on how U.S.-China drugs tie-ups are coming under threat; and an op-ed from Paul Triolo on why Trump’s China team should reassess whether U.S. export controls are working. To read these stories, gain access to our extensive archive, and opt-in to our popular daily news round up, subscribe to The Wire today. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive our free newsletter. Click here to view this email in your browser.

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Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan stands near Intel’s “spark” cube outside the Robert Noyce Building at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, California, March 18, 2025. Credit: Intel Corporation
| Intel's Surprising Savior The new leader of America’s chip champion is a prolific and longtime investor in China’s semiconductor industry. Noah Berman and Eliot Chen report.

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A Q &A with Rush Doshi

Before joining the Biden administration’s National Security Council as deputy senior director for China, Rush Doshi published an influential book on Chinese policy, The Long Game. Doshi pored through Chinese government and Communist Party documents to discern Beijing’s long-term strategy, which he believes is to replace the U.S. as the world’s leading power. It’s a controversial position, but one that has influenced Democratic and Republican policy makers alike. A protege of Democratic party China expert Kurt Campbell, Doshi now heads the Council of Foreign Relation’s China Strategy Initiative. In this week’s interview with Bob Davis, he talks about trying to achieve a ‘steady state’ in U.S.-China relations and whether Washington can pry Moscow and Beijing apart. Rush Doshi
Illustration by Kate Copeland

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Illustration by Dongyan Xu
| The Thief Who Became a Celebrity When Zhou Liqi went viral on the Chinese internet for stealing scooters to protest lack of opportunity, he sparked a debate between the popular movement of “lying flat” and the state’s desire for “positive energy.” The state won. Read about the popular scooter thief in this excerpt from Emily Feng’s new book, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping’s China.

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An employee works at Humanwell PuraCap Pharmaceuticals, a major Chinese softgel pharmaceutical manufacturer in Wuhan. Credit: FeatureChina via AP Images
| U.S.-China Drugs Tie-ups Come Under Threat A surge in dealmaking that’s helped Chinese biotech and healthcare firms sell their products globally faces several headwinds. Rachel Cheung reports.

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U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks next to U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., February 13, 2025. Credit: The White House via Flickr
| Trump Team Struggles With New Controls As President Seeks China Deal Now would be a good time, argues Paul Triolo in this week’s op-ed, to assess whether U.S. export controls are achieving their aims.

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