China Watch

In May 2025, the film “State Organs: Unmasking Transplant Abuse in China” was set to open a human rights film festival in Seoul. The award-winning documentary is about state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China, in which organs are taken from prisoners of conscience without consent. Tickets for the screenings had mostly sold out.Then, days before opening night, the cinema chain pulled out. The festival’s director said Beijing was behind the pressure.Last month, the film, which was shut out of Korean theaters, finally reached Korean viewers on streaming services, and within four weeks, it had climbed to No. 2 in purchases.Producer Cindy Song, who grew up in China, joins host Terri Wu to talk about why she made the film. She tells the story of a young woman from the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao who spoke out after her husband was killed in a labor camp, then disappeared into police custody. She describes a former military surgeon who broke down while recalling an organ extraction he witnessed. And she explains the bomb threats that have followed screenings in Taiwan and beyond, and why she calls the project a chance to “redeem my soul.”To join the social media contest and spread the word about “State Organs,” go to: https://stateorgans.com/social-media.Watch “State Organs:”https://www.ganjingworld.com/s/wq6A3J1vWoViews expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

Before the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) fifth plenum, a closed-door meeting of its roughly 200 top officials, the Asia Society Policy Institute studied decades of past meetings to forecast the outcome. Several of its key calls missed the mark. In our last episode, guest Alex Liao made his own forecast, and much of what happened fit his read.The difference was the method. Alex wasn’t counting precedents. He was reading how the party behaves: what it does when it’s afraid, how it fights internally, and how it signals through what it leaves unsaid.Precedent only works when the rules hold. They don’t, right now, inside the CCP.In this episode, our experts read the tea leaves of the just-finished meeting and what it signals about where the party is headed.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] your support for The Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

Days after Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported that he needed unusual rest breaks at the White House. Now, the Chinese Communist Party’s top leadership is meeting for its Fifth Plenum, from Oct. 26–29, and the question of who comes after Xi is out in the open.China expert Alex Liao explains why he believes the leak about Xi’s health came from Beijing, how Xi came to rule more like a Ming emperor than a modern party leader, and why China’s military has gone silent since Xi moved against General Zhang Youxia.Mike Sun, who spent decades advising Americans doing business in China, describes how Xi broke the rules that once kept elite politics stable, and why his successor may have to do the same just to survive.Also in this episode: why Beijing ordered 25 of its 40 golf courses to close, according to documents shared with China Watch; what to watch for when the plenum ends; and who could be next in line, from Premier Li Qiang to the “deposed crown prince” Hu Chunhua.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, U.S. President Donald Trump, and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi are expected to be in Shenzhen in November for the APEC summit. How does Tokyo view meetings between Trump and Xi, and where does Taiwan fit?Stephen Nagy, a professor at International Christian University in Tokyo and senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, explains why Japan sees Taiwan as the linchpin of its security, what Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan did and didn’t say, and how Tokyo draws its own red line, separate from that of Beijing.He also explains why Japan’s long practice of keeping politics and economics separate has broken down, why Japanese companies are diversifying rather than decoupling, and why he expects today’s China–Japan trade boom to fade.We also discuss what Beijing still needs from Japan, why Nagy thinks Canada’s middle-power pitch landed poorly in East Asia, and the one thing Americans most often get wrong about Japan.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch

In 2025, China eliminated 670 small rural banks—nearly one in five—as they were facing elevated financial risks. Most weren’t shut down; they were folded into larger banks. It was consolidation of an unprecedented scale.But the risks haven’t gone away. They’re now concentrated in fewer, larger banks, often tied to local governments that are themselves deep in debt.And the problem isn’t limited to rural lenders. Across China’s banking system, the same issues appear: layers of debt stacked on debt, shadow banking, and bad loans classified as healthy.Chinese banks powered the country’s economic boom, but they also absorbed much of its strain. That pressure has to be released somehow. Doing so without triggering a shock may be one of the regime’s biggest challenges.Views expressed in this episode are opinions of the host and guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.—Terri Wu is a Washington-based freelance reporter for The Epoch Times covering education and China-related issues. Send tips to [email protected] your support for Epoch Times and independent journalism by leaving a 5-star review of this show on your podcast platform or visit www.RateThisPodcast.com/chinawatch