You can’t understand China today without understanding its president, Xi Jinping.
Since coming to power in 2012, Xi has doubled down on communist ideology and significantly consolidated his own power while transforming China into an industrial juggernaut unrivaled in the world. And Xi’s ambitions for China go far beyond that.
So what does Xi want for China in the coming years? And how should the United States respond?
Kevin Rudd has a unique perspective on these questions. He first met Xi in the 1980s, when Rudd was a China analyst in Australia’s foreign service and Xi was a local party official. Decades later, when Rudd was the prime minister of Australia and Xi was China’s vice president, the two men got to know each other better. And after leaving office, Rudd decided to really try to understand Xi; his latest book, “<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/58156" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">On Xi Jinping: How Xi’s Marxist Nationalism Is Shaping China and the World</a>,” is built off the doctorate he pursued at Oxford after his time as prime minister. Rudd recently finished a stint as Australia’s ambassador to the United States and is now the global president and chief executive of the Asia Society.
In this conversation, Rudd explains Xi’s ideology and the forces that shaped it, his ambitions for China and strategy for achieving them, and what Xi thinks of the United States and Trump.
Mentioned:
<a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/58156" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">On Xi Jinping</a> by Kevin Rudd
<a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kevin-rudd/the-avoidable-war/9781541701304/?lens=publicaffairs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Avoidable War</a> by Kevin Rudd
Book Recommendations
<a href="https://www.sup.org/books/history/partys-interests-come-first" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Party’s Interests Come First</a> by Joseph Torigian
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/241115/the-souls-of-china-by-ian-johnson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Souls of China</a> by Ian Johnson
<a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Magnifica Humanitas</a> by Pope Leo XIV
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at <a href="mailto:ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com</a>.
You can find the transcript and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.html
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Johnny Simon. Our recording engineer is Johnny Simon. Cinematography by Marina King. Video editing by Steph Khoury, Dani Dillon and Kristen Williamson. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, Annie Galvin, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck and Jack McCordick. Original music by Pat McCusker and Diane Wong. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Shows is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Joseph Torigian and Eyck Freymann. Transcript editing by Sarah Murphy and Marlaine Glicksman.
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