Elbridge Colby, under secretary for defense policy at the Pentagon, is arguably Taiwan’s most powerful friend in Washington. But if China does make good on its threats to “re-unify” the island by force, will he be able to ensure that Donald Trump stands up to Xi Jinping?
Illustration by Luis Grañena
Some years ago, Elbridge “Bridge” Colby, the newly christened top policy official in the U.S. Department of Defense, met a People’s Liberation Army officer in Beijing and asked him whom he believed was the greatest Chinese leader. Colby, a history buff, grand strategist and self-described “conservative realist”, recalled in a 2023 interview that the officer’s answer was “Mao Zedong, because, even though he made mistakes and did some bad things, he was the one who got up at the proc
Exclusive longform investigative journalism, Q&As, news and analysis, and data on Chinese business elites and corporations. We publish China scoops you won't find anywhere else.
A weekly curated reading list on China from Andrew Peaple.
A daily roundup of China finance, business and economics headlines.
We offer discounts for groups, institutions and students. Go to our Subscriptions page for details.
How did the late premier convince local governments to surrender fiscal revenues to Beijing? In an extract from his recent book, Authoritarian Markets, Adam Y. Liu explains how Zhu played his trump card — letting local governments set up their own banks.
The academic and former U.S. ambassador to Russia talks about the contrasts between Putin and Xi, and what Washington can do about their relationship with each other.
Corporate Risk Intelligence for National Security, Compliance & Due Diligence
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
