>> booktv on c-span2 has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. ..

>> up next, public defenders and criminal justice reform advocates testify about ways to improve the pretrial system. live coverage on c-span2. >> coming up, public defenders and criminal justice reform advocates testify before a house judiciary subcommittee hearing about ways to improve the pretrial system. live coverage on c-span2.

>> five. [silence] >> coming up public defenders and criminal justice reform advocates are testifying before a house judiciary sub committee

hearing about ways to improve the pretrial system. live coverage on c-span2. >> we will talk about the state of the u.s. china relations next. we are joined bylk a china expet who is with the george mason university mercator center, research senior fellow. good morning. >> morning, bill. thank you for having me. >> how would you describe the current relations between the u.s. and china? >> i think the current relations between u.s. and china are just as tense as one former president trump was in office. this is, i think, a continuation of the increasing tensions between u.s. and china in the aspects of national security becausesp the united states has been engaging in a romantic way and china economically for the past 20 years but for all this

time increasing there has been increasing security concerns coming from china and now the last friday in alaska with a contentious meeting, the attention is on full display there. >> that is part of the reason we have you on this morning just to check in on u.s. china relations and where they stand now. this was the first significant meeting between leaders of china and the u.s. government, secretary of state anthony lincoln and the leader of the foreign affairs chief for the chinese communist party and -- he was there as well so what is the stated purpose of that meeting to begin with? >> the purpose of the meeting just like at the beginning of every other u.s. administration is that china is trying to make connections with the new officials in charge and purpose has always been for decades that china wanted to maintain some sort of peaceful relations with

the western world. this way they could rise in the global stage but there is a main difference here. i think, what came as a surprise to many people, that contentious meeting last friday, was that people thought or at least many thought that the biden administration is going to be, in some sense, like the obama administration being relatively softer on china compared to president trump. i think most people would have to think again after the biden meeting because in my opinion i think presidencies in the u.s. they don't really matter to china policy. what really drives china policy to today's contentious space is because of the calculation betweenca trading off economic benefits of engaging with china versus the security concerns so whilein the chinese side certaiy want to get some form of reset with the u.s. officials because

remember, all these china measures put on by the trump administration are still kept in place by president biden and so, the chinese side was wanting to get some reset to getting those sanctions removed and possibly between the u.s. and china tears to be taken down but that did not come true and this really also underscores the security competition increasing securitya competition between the two nations. >> before we get to callers i think it's important to do a reset. you touched on that briefly, what was the state -- you said that they wanted to do a reset, the chinese after the trump administration so where do you think things started to go wrong with the trump administration, in terms of relations with china or do you think from a u.s. perspective that we are in a strong position against china? >> guest: i don't think anything has particularly gone wrong in the past four years when president trump was in china in his china policy because what we

have seen so far and again, like i said, and as i wrote in the natural interest about the point that presidents where whether the president is democrat or republican doesn't really matter to us policies toward china because the tension has been increasing and that was going to happen regardless of whether we are having a biden presidency first turn or whether we are having a trump presidency second term. the result would be the same. for a long time when the u.s. was engaging with china economically the assumption was that there is a lot of economic benefit from trading with them which has been true absolutely and at the beginning when china first joined the assumption was that china would not impose severe security concerns on the u.s. it alsoo has been true for years and until very recently but

actually, the problem started before president trump evenn cae to office because during the second term of the obama and administration the u.s. has been become more aware of security concerns both by china in particular over the south china sea and so, what we have seen, i think, including the past four years in the first two months of the biden presidency is a continuation of the escalations in those security and petition area. >> host: we will open up our phone lines to hear from her callers, viewers and listeners about u.s. china relations. if you are a democrat use (202)748-8000, republicans hughes (202)748-8001, independents and others, (202)748-8002, pose a question by text, (202)748-8003, weifeng zhong let's take a listen to

what anthony blinken the secretary of state had to say that alaska meeting how the u.s. plans to engage china. >> our administration is committed to leading with diplomacy and to advance the interests of the united states and to strengthen the rules -based international order. that system is not an obstruction. helps countries resolve differences peacefully and coordinate multilateral efforts effectively and participate in global commerce with the assurance that everyone is following the same rules. the alternative to a rules -based order is a world in which might makes right and winners take all and that would be a far more violent and unstable world for all of us. today we will have an opportunity to discuss key priorities both domestic and global so that china can better understand our administration's attentions and approach.

we will also discuss our deep concerns with actions by china, including in hong kong, taiwan, cyber attacks on the united states, economic coercion toward our allies. each of these actions threaten the rules -based order that maintains global stability. that is why they are not merely internal matters and what we feel an allegation to raise these issues here today.y. >> host: weifeng zhong, how different is anthony blinken's message then the message from the trump administration? >> guest: it sounds very much the same which really gets back to the point that i see more continuation in terms of china policy than difference for the first two months after president trump took office and not only because all these china measures put out toward the end of the trump administration are still there but it is because the rhetoricti, they have been sayig the same thing for the past few years now.

the competition in china is really no longer about the trade deficit that the u.s. is having with china but more on the national security grid. all these issue areas, secretary lincoln mentioned hong kong, taiwan, obviously the genocide in that region of china and we are all of huge concerns to the western world because at the beginning of engaging with china, to understand this you have to think back about the past 20 years since they've joined the wto. in the beginning, the past 20 years theyst emphasized the non- economic consequence of trade whand why do i say that? as we all no, trade has economic benefits but the problem is sometimes they do lead to trading and that does lead to security consequences which is not economic because, think about, if nations of trade witha north korea, for example, right?

economically speaking the companies and consumers involved in the bilateral trade would benefit commercially speaking but kim jong-un and would get the trade and invest in his nuclear program so this is a classical example of what in the academic literature is called a security consequent is of security externalities of trade soex when the u.s. economic engagement with china, the assumption was that there would not be such severe security externality. >> we leave this here to take you live now to house judiciary subcommittee hearing on criminal justice reform. live coverage here on c-span2. >> it is well-known that the miranda supreme court case provided the well-known miranda warning pretrial to give any