The Road Ahead: China's Growing Footprint in South Asia

Countering Chinese Communist Party Influence Around the World

In this installment of “Countering Chinese Communist Party Influence Around the World,” leading experts cover China’s expanding role in India, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Vandenberg Coalition Executive Director Carrie Filipetti speaks with Lisa Curtis, Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at Center for a New American Security and Nargis Nehan, who formerly served as Afghanistan’s Acting Minister of Mines and Petroleum.

In this series, the Vandenberg Coalition shifts the focus beyond the Indo-Pacific and into various regions around the world where the Chinese Communist Party continues to threaten American interests. Each episode in the series discusses China’s growing influence in a given region, how it measures against American influence, how to define our relationship with the region in light of competing priorities, and what America can and should be doing to better protect and advance our national interests.

00:00:00 Opening by TVC Executive Director Carrie Filipetti

00:01:26 Development of China’s recent interest in South Asia

00:04:19 China’s efforts to counter India

00:07:49 China’s engagement in Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal

00:13:14 Options for U.S. deterrence of China in Afghanistan

00:19:20 Implications of cultural differences between China & the Taliban

00:23:01 Biden Administration’s romanticization of U.S.-Taliban cooperation

00:28:57 Congressional response to the U.S.’s withdrawal from Afghanistan

00:32:31 China-Pakistan economic corridor

00:35:37 Beijing’s debt-trap diplomacy

00:40:39 U.S. policy options in South Asia

00:50:55 Likelihood of a U.S.-China proxy conflict in South Asia

01:02:50 Implications of CCP influence displacing U.S. values

01:07:17 Closing by TVC Executive Director Carrie Filipetti