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Brent Crane

Brent Crane is a journalist based in San Diego. His work has been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Economist and elsewhere. @bcamcrane

Articles

The Green Leap

From solar panels to electric vehicles, China dominates several of the technologies needed for the green energy transition. But can the U.S. find a way to leapfrog China and win the next generation of clean tech?

Access Denied

Jen Easterly, the eccentric director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), has huge support when it comes to her number one priority: fighting back against Chinese cyber attacks. But to actually solve the China hacking problem, she'll have to figure out how to...

The Czars Aligned

When Joe Biden took office, many of his supporters thought the first order of business would be unwinding Donald Trump's trade war with China. But his trade czar, Katherine Tai, has been largely MIA, a stark contrast to her predecessor, the fiery and ubiquitous Robert...

Chairman Mike

Rep. Mike Gallagher is both a rising political star and Capitol Hill’s loudest China hawk. As chairman of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, he is also — for better or worse — driving America's China policy.

Software and Tear

Microsoft has a substantial and long-standing footprint in China, succeeding where many of its tech peers did not. But now the company, which is a leading contractor for the U.S. government, has found itself in the middle of China's increased cyber subterfuge. After a string...

Shaky Signal

Qualcomm got its big break by navigating the tense relationship between the U.S. and China, and it has felt the squeeze of geopolitics numerous times since — often coming out stronger than it was before. The telecom behemoth is now the rare U.S. company that...

A Tale of Two Financial Hubs

For the Chinese upper-class and many businesses, Singapore is increasingly filling a role that Hong Kong used to play. In fact, the changes in both cities have led to a general sense that Singapore is the new Hong Kong. But not everyone is so bearish on...

The Semiconductor Madman

When Zhao Weiguo was named CEO of Tsinghua Unigroup, he was just the kind of hard-charging and daring businessman needed to rescue the state-backed company. But with China's big chip ambitions now stalling — and Zhao now in jail — the path forward for one...

Insuring Engagement

At age 97, Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, the former CEO of AIG, has advocated for deeper U.S. engagement with China for longer than perhaps any living American businessman. While his positioning as a private sector statesman seems out of touch given the current state of U.S.-China...