There's been a lot of speculation in the aftermath of the brief U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran that Beijing would step in to bolster its longtime partners in Tehran. Rumors have been bouncing around that China will sell Iran advanced fighter jets and help rebuild the country's ballistic missile program, among other things.

There is no evidence, though, to support any of those claims.

Instead, China seems to be taking a more hands-off approach, providing Iran with bountiful moral support while remaining a loyal oil customer, but little else.

Bill Figueroa, a leading Iran-China scholar and an assistant professor at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, joins Eric to explain why China appears to be satisfied with the current state of relations with Iran.

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For much of the past two years, we've been told to expect a slimmer, more austere Belt and Road under the new "Small Yet Beautiful" mantra. The days of Chinese mega deals across the Global South were over... or so we thought.

Turns out that Chinese firms, largely from the private sector, are continuing to invest heavily in energy, mining, and construction projects in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, according to new data from Australia’s Griffith University and the Green Finance & Development Center in Beijing.

Total BRI engagement in the first half of 2025 topped $123 billion, a new record that surpassed the total for last year.

Christoph Nedopil, lead author of the new report, joins Eric to explain what's driving the surge in Chinese investment and construction contracts.

SHOW NOTES:

• Griffith University: China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Investment Report 2025 H1 b by Christoph Nedopil
• Financial Times: China’s Belt and Road investment and construction activity hits record by Joe Leahy

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Listen in on many of the foreign policy discussions about Vietnam that take place at think tanks and government seminars in Washington, D.C., and you'll hear this sense of optimism that "Hanoi is on our side." They see Vietnam's historical suspicions of China and the country's ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea as key indicators that Hanoi will eventually join a U.S.-led coalition to counter China.

Those presumptions, however, are wrong, according to Khang Vu, a leading Vietnamese political scientist and visiting scholar at Boston College. Khang joins Eric to explain why the U.S. is overestimating its military and trade leverage with Vietnam.

SHOW NOTES:

• The Diplomat: Why Vietnam Will Not Balance Against China by Khang Vu
• The Diplomat: Trump’s Tariffs Won’t Change the Trajectory of Vietnam’s Foreign Policy by Khang Vu
• The Diplomat: With China Visit, Vietnam’s To Lam Reinforces Bilateral Political Trust by Khang Vu

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