- US Foreign Policy
- China
- History
- Civil Rights & Race
- Confronting and Competing with China
Dr. Elizabeth Economy sits down with Dr. Miles Yu, who served as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's principal China policy advisor during the first Trump administration, discussing his journey from experiencing China's Cultural Revolution to shaping US policy at the State Department. Yu explains his role in shifting American policy during the first Trump administration from transactional engagement toward addressing ideological differences between the two systems, including elevating human rights and supporting Taiwan. The two then debate whether the second Trump administration represents continuity or departure from the first term's approach, particularly regarding democracy promotion and alliance-building.
Recorded on March 4, 2026.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Miles Yu is a senior fellow and director of the China Center at Hudson Institute, and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he is a member of the Military History/Contemporary Conflict Working Group. He is also a professor of East Asia and military and naval history at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Dr. Yu specializes in Chinese military and strategic culture, US and Chinese military and diplomatic history, and US policy toward China.
Dr. Yu served in the Trump administration as the China policy adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In that capacity, he advised the secretary on all China-related issues, helped overhaul US policy toward China, and participated in key US government interagency deliberations on major policy and government actions with regard to China and other East Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
Dr. Yu has published widely on topics in his field. His books include OSS in China: Prelude to Cold War (Yale University Press, 1997) and The Dragon’s War: Allied Operations and the Fate of China, 1937–1947 (Naval Institute Press, 2006).
- Follow Miles Yu on X: @milesyu10
- Listen to his podcast: China Insider
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.
