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If the U.S. Doesn't Get China Right, Nothing Else Will Matter

If the U.S. Doesn't Get China Right, Nothing Else Will Matter

General Michael Hayden, the co-host of The Cipher Brief’s Annual Threat Conference for the past two years, has famously said that the world has been more dangerous in the past, but it has never been more complicated.  He has also said that if the U.S. doesn’t get China right, nothing else will matter.  The Cipher Brief will again be presenting a private briefing on China as part of our Annual Threat Report at this year’s conference, and we are interviewing a number of the most respected China experts in the run-up to that report.

This week, we spoke with Christopher Johnson, who holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS.  He is one of the most respected analytic voices on the China issue and has served as a senior China analyst with the CIA as well as in the U.S. government’s intelligence and foreign affairs communities, advising senior White House officials, cabinet officials, congressional and military leaders. 

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