Rush Doshi (杜如松) is the C.V. Starr senior fellow for Asia studies and director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also an assistant professor in the Security Studies Program in Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Doshi was deputy senior director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council (NSC) from 2021 to 2024, where he helped manage the NSC’s first China directorate. During his tenure, Doshi coordinated U.S. government policy on China and Taiwan, drafted the administration’s China strategy, staffed the President and National Security Advisor’s meetings with PRC counterparts including the Bali and Woodside summits, and was the lead action officer for the negotiations that launched AUKUS. He is the author of The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order (Oxford University Press, 2021), which won the Mershon Center’s Edgar S. Furniss book award, was a finalist for the Arthur Ross Book Award and the Lionel Gelber Prize and was named a Financial Times “best book.” He is the editor of Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World (Brookings University Press, 2021). Doshi was previously a fellow at the Brookings Institution and Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center and currently serves as an officer in the US Navy Reserve. He has testified before multiple Congressional committees, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, International Organization, Asia Policy, and The Washington Quarterly, among other outlets. Doshi received his doctorate from Harvard University and his bachelor’s from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs with a minor in East Asian Studies. He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese. Previously, Doshi was a member of the Asia policy working groups for the Biden and Clinton presidential campaigns, Special Advisor to the CEO of The Asia Group, an analyst at the Long Term Strategy Group and Rock Creek Global Advisors, and an Arthur Liman Fellow at the Department of State. Doshi received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his PhD from Harvard University focusing on Chinese foreign policy. He was also a Fulbright fellow in China.
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Episode 405
Rush Doshi
Is the US at Risk of Losing the Long Game to China? | Rush Doshi
Rush Doshi (杜如松) is the C.V. Starr senior fellow for Asia studies and director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also an assistant professor in the Security Studies Program in Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Doshi was deputy senior director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council (NSC) from 2021 to 2024, where he helped manage the NSC’s first China directorate. During his tenure, Doshi coordinated U.S. government policy on China and Taiwan, drafted the administration’s China strategy, staffed the President and National Security Advisor’s meetings with PRC counterparts including the Bali and Woodside summits, and was the lead action officer for the negotiations that launched AUKUS. He is the author of The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order (Oxford University Press, 2021), which won the Mershon Center’s Edgar S. Furniss book award, was a finalist for the Arthur Ross Book Award and the Lionel Gelber Prize and was named a Financial Times “best book.” He is the editor of Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World (Brookings University Press, 2021). Doshi was previously a fellow at the Brookings Institution and Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center and currently serves as an officer in the US Navy Reserve. He has testified before multiple Congressional committees, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, International Organization, Asia Policy, and The Washington Quarterly, among other outlets. Doshi received his doctorate from Harvard University and his bachelor’s from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs with a minor in East Asian Studies. He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese. Previously, Doshi was a member of the Asia policy working groups for the Biden and Clinton presidential campaigns, Special Advisor to the CEO of The Asia Group, an analyst at the Long Term Strategy Group and Rock Creek Global Advisors, and an Arthur Liman Fellow at the Department of State. Doshi received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his PhD from Harvard University focusing on Chinese foreign policy. He was also a Fulbright fellow in China.
In Episode 405 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Rush Doshi, former Deputy Senior Director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council about the state of the U.S.-China competition, the Trump administration’s China policy, and how the United States can compete successfully with China without risking imperial overreach or bankrupting the nation.
Foreign policy in the first two months of the Trump administration has focused predominantly on ending America’s war in Ukraine, resetting U.S. commitments to Europe through NATO, reasserting dominance over the Western Hemisphere, and rebalancing trade relationships with both allies and competitors. What has not been clearly articulated in the Trump administration’s public communications is how America’s grand strategic vision—and any potential “Trump doctrine”—will look over the next four years, how China fits into that vision, and how success should be measured.
Demetri and Rush begin their conversation by reviewing Chinese party documents, materials, and analyses of China’s communications, conduct, and behavior over the last three decades to understand Beijing’s intentions and how they should shape U.S. policy during a time of waning relative American power amid a geopolitical rebalancing. They examine the new bipartisan consensus on China, discuss the Trump administration’s strategic foreign policy tactics and objectives—including the use of tariffs and incentives to rebuild American industrial capacity—and explore how the United States can successfully compete with China without risking imperial overreach or bankrupting the nation.
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Rush Doshi (杜如松) is the C.V. Starr senior fellow for Asia studies and director of the China Strategy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is also an assistant professor in the Security Studies Program in Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. Doshi was deputy senior director for China and Taiwan on the National Security Council (NSC) from 2021 to 2024, where he helped manage the NSC’s first China directorate. During his tenure, Doshi coordinated U.S. government policy on China and Taiwan, drafted the administration’s China strategy, staffed the President and National Security Advisor’s meetings with PRC counterparts including the Bali and Woodside summits, and was the lead action officer for the negotiations that launched AUKUS. He is the author of The Long Game: China’s Grand Strategy to Displace American Order (Oxford University Press, 2021), which won the Mershon Center’s Edgar S. Furniss book award, was a finalist for the Arthur Ross Book Award and the Lionel Gelber Prize and was named a Financial Times “best book.” He is the editor of Global China: Assessing China’s Growing Role in the World (Brookings University Press, 2021). Doshi was previously a fellow at the Brookings Institution and Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center and currently serves as an officer in the US Navy Reserve. He has testified before multiple Congressional committees, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, International Organization, Asia Policy, and The Washington Quarterly, among other outlets. Doshi received his doctorate from Harvard University and his bachelor’s from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs with a minor in East Asian Studies. He is proficient in Mandarin Chinese. Previously, Doshi was a member of the Asia policy working groups for the Biden and Clinton presidential campaigns, Special Advisor to the CEO of The Asia Group, an analyst at the Long Term Strategy Group and Rock Creek Global Advisors, and an Arthur Liman Fellow at the Department of State. Doshi received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and his PhD from Harvard University focusing on Chinese foreign policy. He was also a Fulbright fellow in China.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
Demetri Kofinas is a media entrepreneur and financial analyst whose mission is to help uncover the hidden forces and pivotal patterns shaping our lives. His contrarian perspective and critical-thinking approach has helped hundreds of thousands of people make smarter, informed decisions. This same methodology has helped guide Demetri’s decision-making as an early-stage investor and as a creator of several innovative media properties and live events.
