Chris Fenton

Yeah, thanks for having me back. It's a little bit of a homecoming for us.

Yeah, thanks for having me back. It's a little bit of a homecoming for us.

Yep, and I remember going to that. I think the radio station was down in Culver City back when it was just audio and then putting that whole pilot together and all that stuff. It was bringing back 30-year-old memories.

Yep, and I remember going to that. I think the radio station was down in Culver City back when it was just audio and then putting that whole pilot together and all that stuff. It was bringing back 30-year-old memories.

Well, you know, the book I had come out, let's see, summer of 2020. It was not too long after COVID obviously infected the world. And about a year after I did my last U.S. congressional delegation trip, we brought over three House members during the peak of the Hong Kong protests. And that was really...

Well, you know, the book I had come out, let's see, summer of 2020. It was not too long after COVID obviously infected the world. And about a year after I did my last U.S. congressional delegation trip, we brought over three House members during the peak of the Hong Kong protests. And that was really...

a moment where I saw a lot of problems that we were starting to think were happening between the US and China that were actually really happening. We were fearing that perhaps Hong Kong was not going to stay completely free for 50 years like was promised. We were proven correct on that assessment. I think 23 years was as long as they were able to hold that promise.

a moment where I saw a lot of problems that we were starting to think were happening between the US and China that were actually really happening. We were fearing that perhaps Hong Kong was not going to stay completely free for 50 years like was promised. We were proven correct on that assessment. I think 23 years was as long as they were able to hold that promise.

It wasn't shortly thereafter that we found out our supply chain issues were completely taken into a space that was very detrimental to national security issues when COVID hit. And we realized a lot of our medical supplies were stuck in supply chain conundrums that were wrapped into the China manufacturing complex.

It wasn't shortly thereafter that we found out our supply chain issues were completely taken into a space that was very detrimental to national security issues when COVID hit. And we realized a lot of our medical supplies were stuck in supply chain conundrums that were wrapped into the China manufacturing complex.

And then coming out of that, we started to see a real pushback from Beijing on various things that we thought they were very collaborative of that turns out they weren't. So there's a lot of things that have been exacerbating since, I would say, 2018-19. That was sort of my smack in the nose moment that I started to sense things were going the wrong direction.

And then coming out of that, we started to see a real pushback from Beijing on various things that we thought they were very collaborative of that turns out they weren't. So there's a lot of things that have been exacerbating since, I would say, 2018-19. That was sort of my smack in the nose moment that I started to sense things were going the wrong direction.

But prior to that, we thought everything was hunky-dory.

But prior to that, we thought everything was hunky-dory.

Yeah, we were late August of 2018. I'm sorry, 2019. We were in China for about 12 days. Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, and Beijing. So I hope I wasn't the one that brought it over initially to the U.S., but the timing was around that period. Obviously, we sort of really discovered it in December of that year.

Yeah, we were late August of 2018. I'm sorry, 2019. We were in China for about 12 days. Xi'an, Chengdu, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, and Beijing. So I hope I wasn't the one that brought it over initially to the U.S., but the timing was around that period. Obviously, we sort of really discovered it in December of that year.

Yeah, well, there's definitely a bottom-up, top-down part of that system where there's a lot of fear base among all the different officials, whether you're at a very local level, municipal level, provincial level, and then all the way up into central government. So no one wants to report bad news up the chain of command. Right.

Yeah, well, there's definitely a bottom-up, top-down part of that system where there's a lot of fear base among all the different officials, whether you're at a very local level, municipal level, provincial level, and then all the way up into central government. So no one wants to report bad news up the chain of command. Right.

That combined with various other puzzling problems that they weren't sure that they were fully comprehending really muddied sort of the ability to tackle the problem quickly and effectively and keep it from spreading outside of the country.

That combined with various other puzzling problems that they weren't sure that they were fully comprehending really muddied sort of the ability to tackle the problem quickly and effectively and keep it from spreading outside of the country.