Money & Macro Talks What does China want? | profs Kang, Wong & Chan
15 snips
Mar 19, 2026 
Zenobia Chan, researcher on Chinese politics and security; Jackie Wong, computational analyst of Chinese rhetoric; David Kang, scholar of East Asian international relations. They discuss China’s priorities: regime stability, economic growth, and territorial integrity. They debate Taiwan’s future as likely diplomatic, the South China Sea as a regional dispute, and how tech policy and rhetoric reveal intentions rather than global conquest.
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Taiwan Ambiguity Is A Deliberate Stability Mechanism
- China publicly reserves the right to use force over Taiwan but treats the current situation as an ambiguous, managed status quo.
- Kang notes 40 years of functional independence for Taiwan alongside Chinese restraint absent an official Taiwanese independence declaration.
CCP Rhetoric Prioritises Domestic Governance
- CCP internal communications since 2012 emphasize domestic goals like anti-corruption, party cohesion, and economic growth over geopolitics.
- Jackie Wong's text analysis of tens of thousands of speeches finds foreign affairs topics make up only a small portion of top-leadership rhetoric.
Core Interests Are Stability Growth And Territory
- The CCP frames its core interests as regime stability, economic growth, and territorial integrity.
- Zenobia Chan links economic performance to regime legitimacy and highlights territorial issues like Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.