- Innovation
- China
- History
- Military
- Confronting and Competing with China
Dr. Elizabeth Economy and Lingling Wei, Chief China Correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, sit down for a wide ranging conversation on China’s purges, her personal story and look ahead to US-China relations for 2026. They begin with the recent ouster of General Zhang Youxia's from China's Central Military Commission and what it reveals about Xi Jinping's consolidation of power ahead of the 2026 Party Congress. Wei then shares her personal journey from being inspired by her mother to take up journalism in China to being expelled by Beijing in 2020, and how she continues reporting on China. The two then conclude with a discussion on the US and China. Wei describes U.S.-China relations as a "tactical pause" where both sides pursue strategic decoupling while managing a "messy separation," with China building its economy on a "war footing" for potential conflict over Taiwan. Lastly, the two agree on the need to understand everyday Chinese struggles, not just Xi's policies, even as Beijing turns the country into a "black box" for foreign reporters.
Recorded on January 31, 2026.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Lingling Wei is the chief China correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and author of the award-winning WSJ China newsletter. She covers China's political economy, focusing on the intersection of business and politics, and U.S.-China relations.
Born and raised in China, she has a master's in journalism from New York University, got her start covering U.S. real estate, and has won many awards for her China coverage. She was among a team of reporters and editors whose work was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2021. She was also on the team that produced the Journal’s Missing Minister investigative podcast series, which won the New York Press Club’s national podcast award in 2025. Lingling is co-author of the book, Superpower Showdown.
- Follow Lingling Wei on X: @lingling_wei
Elizabeth Economy is the Hargrove Senior Fellow and co-director of the Program on the US, China, and the World at the Hoover Institution. From 2021-2023, she took leave from Hoover to serve as the senior advisor for China to the US Secretary of Commerce. Before joining Hoover, she was the C.V. Starr Senior Fellow and director, Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is the author of four books on China, including most recently The World According to China (Polity, 2021), and the co-editor of two volumes. She serves on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy and the National Committee on US-China Relations. She is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group and Council on Foreign Relations and serves as a book reviewer for Foreign Affairs.
ABOUT THE SERIES
China Considered with Elizabeth Economy is a Hoover Institution podcast series that features in-depth conversations with leading political figures, scholars, and activists from around the world. The series explores the ideas, events, and forces shaping China’s future and its global relationships, offering high-level expertise, clear-eyed analysis, and valuable insights to demystify China’s evolving dynamics and what they may mean for ordinary citizens and key decision makers across societies, governments, and the private sector.
