Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod
@IndoPacPodcast • 3,405 subscribers
Join Ray Powell and Jim Carouso as they explore issues defining this century's pivotal region, the Indo-Pacific. New podcast every Friday.
Videos
New: Why Should We Care About Why Journalists are Leaving China? The day her BYD rideshare driver told her the dashboard screen was a "national secret," that's when Wall Street Journal correspondent Yoko Kubota knew China had really changed, and maybe it was time to think about leaving. What does the world lose when fewer foreign journalists are reporting from inside China? In this episode, hosts Ray Powell and Jim sit down with Yoko, who spent eight years in Beijing before leaving China and writing a striking farewell column about a society growing alarmingly suspicious of outsiders. From that small, telling BYD moment, Yoko traces how a tightening espionage law, national-security messaging, and rising nationalism seeped into everyday life. As a Japanese reporter for an American paper, she also describes the anti-Japanese sentiment she and her family encountered, from a parents' school chat group to the phrases her young son began repeating, and how the 2024 attacks on Japanese children in Suzhou and Shenzhen deepened her fears. Links to full episode below.
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod195,026 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад
New: Why Should We Care About a Couple of Average Guys Targeted by Beijing’s Propaganda Machine? Could Scarborough Shoal become China’s next artificial-island outpost? Can transparency effectively counter gray-zone coercion at sea? Why did scholars from seven Chinese universities suddenly claim that Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost and very much inhabited island province, belongs to China? And why has the Chinese embassy in Manila spent so much time attacking a Philippine Coast Guard officer, and one of our own podcast co-hosts, online? In this special crossover episode, the usual roles are reversed. Rear Admiral Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard, a two-time Why Should We Care About the Indo-Pacific? guest and a leading champion of Manila’s maritime transparency campaign, takes the host chair on his podcast, Just the Truth. Recorded in Manila, he puts Why Should We Care co-host Ray Powell in the guest seat. Jay and Ray examine what happens when China’s pressure at sea is paired with political warfare on land. They discuss the risk that Scarborough Shoal could become Beijing’s next fortified outpost, the sudden claims over Batanes as Chinese coast guard vessels push east of the First Island Chain, and whether publicly documenting water cannons, ramming, swarming, and other coercive acts changes China’s behavior, or at least builds the national resilience and international backing needed for a long-term resistance. They also explore why the Philippines has embraced transparency while many Southeast Asian neighbors still prefer quiet diplomacy, how independent journalists aboard Philippine Coast Guard ships have helped make maritime encounters impossible to ignore, and why the political contest over facts, images, and public opinion may be inseparable from the contest taking place on the water. Jay then lightens the mood with some of his favorite “mean tweets” about Ray: that he is an American propagandist, or secretly Jay’s CIA boss, or directing a half-billion-dollar U.S. government information operation against China… a windfall Ray’s wife would very much like to locate. It is a candid, sometimes irreverent conversation about territorial claims, information warfare, Philippine agency, and why Beijing appears so determined to discredit the people pointing cameras at its actions. Links to the full episode below.
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod19,509 просмотров • 10 дней назад
New: Why Should We Care if China Dominates Maritime East Asia? In Episode 163, Ray Powell and Jim speak with retired U.S. Navy Captain Brent D. Sadler, a career submariner, former U.S. defense attaché in Malaysia, Heritage Foundation Senior Fellow and author of two books: U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century and Naval Power in Action: Seizing the Initiative in the New Cold War with China. Sadler’s answer is blunt: China is exercising growing control over maritime East Asia, as Beijing has spent decades building the military, commercial, and political leverage to do exactly that. He says this is not just a question of aircraft carriers, missiles, and hull counts, but also about China’s strategic commercial footprint in ports, shipping and repair infrastructure, distant-water fishing fleets, maritime militia, and the China Coast Guard. Ray and Jim ask what it means that China’s coast guard vessels are operating east of Taiwan. Are these deployments preparation for a possible blockade? Why are fishing fleets moving in organized formations? And how could Beijing use gray-zone coercion to change the status quo before anyone agrees that a crisis has begun? The conversation also examines the recent China-Russia naval exercises and potential for submarine technology transfer, Russian pressure on Japan around the Kuril Islands, and Beijing’s efforts to turn even limited naval interactions with countries such as Indonesia into political and propaganda victories. Sadler explains why Southeast Asian leaders’ rhetoric must be weighed against what matters on the water: maritime rights, military exercises, commercial ties, and freedom of navigation. Finally, Sadler assesses the military balance approaching the much-discussed 2027 window of war concerns, China’s Taiwan contingency preparations, gaps in America’s carrier presence in the Indo-Pacific, U.S. shipbuilding deficits, the future of unmanned vessels, and what Ukraine’s drone war may mean for Taiwan and regional partners. Sadler’s larger warning is that maritime control is no longer just a contest of fleets, but a contest of coercion, commerce, access, and political will; one in which Beijing can test regional governments, reshape behavior below the threshold of war, and learn whether America and its allies will respond before temporary pressure becomes a permanent advantage. Links to the full episode below.
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod17,222 просмотров • 17 дней назад
SPECIAL PRESIDENTIAL GUEST: Why Should We Care About the Pacific Island Country Standing Up to China? In a groundbreaking episode, Ray Powell and Jim welcome their first-ever head of state as a guest—Surangel Whipps Jr., the 10th President of the Republic of Palau. Links 👇
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod119,908 просмотров • 1 год назад
🚨 EMERGENCY POD: Why Should We Care About the Shocking Chinese Ship Collision at Scarborough Shoal? In this special episode, we dive into the dramatic South China Sea incident this week near Scarborough Shoal. Fresh from Manila, Ray Powell takes the "guest" seat to unpack the events with co-host Jim Carouso. The discussion highlights the escalating 🇨🇳China-🇵🇭Philippines tensions, with its implications for regional stability and 🇺🇸US alliances. Our hosts describe how a Chinese destroyer slammed into a China Coast Guard vessel while pursuing the much smaller Philippine Coast Guard ship BRP Suluan near Scarborough Shoal on August 11, 2025. The collision crumpled the Coast Guard ship's bow and likely caused casualties. Ray notes the Suluan got within 10.5 nautical miles of the shoal, closer than any Philippine vessel in over a year, which challenged China's undeclared exclusion zone around the contested feature in a way that drew an unexpected military response. Providing context, Ray traces the shoal's history: China's 2012 seizure, the 2016 arbitral ruling affirming traditional fishing rights for all nations (including the Philippines), and recent escalations. Since spring 2024, China has enforced a 25-30 nautical mile exclusion zone, blocking Philippine government vessels and fishermen alike in defiance of the arbitral award. The Philippines’ “Kadiwa” mission involved five vessels to provide direct aid to fishermen now forced to operate in exposed waters due to China's denial of the shoal. The hosts analyze the game-changer: the People's Liberation Army-Navy (PLAN) destroyer's direct involvement. This military escalation risked crossing red lines, like President Marcos's 2024 Shangri-La Dialogue statement that a Filipino sailor's death could invoke the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty. Ray speculates the destroyer aimed to intimidate (not ram) the Philippine ship, but that a misjudgement in the other direction could have resulted in a catastrophe in the diplomatic, as well as the maritime, sense. Broader implications emerge: Ray evaluates China's increased presence amid new laws allowing 60-day detentions and new straight-baseline claims around the shoal. Jim and Ray try to separate how this incident relates to Beijing’s direct confrontation with Manila versus its indirect contest with the Philippines’ ally, the United States. Jim and Ray discuss other dramatic events around Scarborough Shoal this week: a Philippine Coast Guard aircraft faced Chinese fighter jet harassment, and the U.S. Navy conducted its own freedom of navigation operation (FONOP). They also ponder tactical coordination failures between China's navy and coast guard; discuss how Beijing’s lionization of the fighter pilot who died during the 2001 EP-3 incident may inspire recklessness; and what it all may mean for a future Taiwan contingency. Wrapping up, they urge reflection on abyss-peering scenarios: What if the collision had sunk the Philippine ship or killed Filipinos? It could trigger a diplomatic crisis and White House treaty decisions, testing US deterrence. For Filipinos, all this took place near an extremely important fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. A potential silver lining? The mishap exposes China's vulnerabilities, and could deter future rash actions–but only if Beijing learns the right lessons. Its recent history, its state media’s unwillingness to even acknowledge the mishap, and its blame-shifting suggest it may elect a more confrontational path. 👉 Links to the full episode in the comments below.
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod86,351 просмотров • 1 год назад
"There just doesn't seem to be a national consciousness or awakening of the level of strategic danger that we find ourselves in," Andrew J Phelan warned in Ep. 89. 🇦🇺#Australia's current defense capabilities pale compared to WWII preparations. Phelan says that today's "boutique defense force" of 60,000 personnel, from a population of 25 million, is nowhere near adequate for the current strategic challenges. As 🇨🇳#China's "continuous struggle" philosophy ensures ongoing pressure, Phelan says Australia must develop a greater strategic backbone while maintaining necessary economic relationships. The full podcast is available on all major streaming platforms (links below)
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod35,017 просмотров • 1 год назад
In Ep. 118, we welcome two returning guests and leading strategic thinkers, Mick Ryan, AM and Zack Cooper, to dissect the newly released U.S. National Security Strategy and its implications for Indo-Pacific security, alliances, and the evolving competition with China. Links ⬇️
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod23,835 просмотров • 8 месяцев назад
North Korean troops are fighting and dying in Ukraine, and the survivors are returning home to teach what they've learned. In return, Moscow is transferring military technology to Pyongyang. Beijing, worried about losing its grip, is competing for influence by easing up on decades of pressure that kept the Hermit Kingdom in check. And Washington? It's pulling forces out of the Indo-Pacific and sending them to other theaters. In Ep. 143, Ray Powell and Jim sit down with Stanford's Oriana Skylar Mastro, Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute and leading expert on Chinese military strategy, to unpack her new Foreign Affairs article, "Kim's Dangerous Liaisons: Russia, China, and the Growing North Korea Threat." Oriana makes the case that the Korean Peninsula is more dangerous today than it has been in years. North Korea is more capable and emboldened and less restrained by its two great-power patrons, who are playing against each other for influence. A conflict on the peninsula today would inevitably pull in Russia and China, nuclear powers with combined military and industrial weight that rivals the United States. Links to full episode below.
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod13,613 просмотров • 4 месяцев назад
China’s embassy in Manila launched an unprecedented campaign against Philippine government officials. In this special pod, Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela‒Beijing’s primary target‒explains what’s at stake when embassies publicly threaten democratic voices. Links ⬇️
Why Should We Care: Indo-Pacific Pod17,409 просмотров • 7 месяцев назад