Are China & The USA Working Together To Carve Up The Globe? | Peter Alexander

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**Peter Alexander** (1:05)
I believe at this very moment that the Chinese and the United States are negotiating what will be called the fourth communique. The objective and goal is to have it agreed to when Xi Jinping theoretically travels to the United States at the end of the year. Is essentially for the United States and China to get together and say, how are we going to divide up the world?

**Adam Taggart** (1:35)
Welcome to Thoughtful Money. I'm Thoughtful Money Founder and your host, Adam Taggart. Right now, the world's attention is on Iran, which is currently under siege by the US and Israel. But many in America think that the real challenge, economically and geostrategically, comes from a different country, one the war in Iran may be designed to weaken, and that's China. Many viewers of this channel have been asking for a deep dive on China, its capabilities, its motivations, and its likely future actions. Well, today, we're delivering on that. I've got the good fortune to welcome to the program Peter Alexander, founder and CEO of Z-Ben Advisors, a leading provider of market intelligence and strategic advice on every facet of China's asset management industry. Peter, thanks so much for joining us today.

**Peter Alexander** (2:23)
Thank you, Adam. How are you?

**Adam Taggart** (2:25)
I am great. And Peter, it's an honor to meet you and have you here on the program, not just because this is a very high interest target amongst this audience, but you come with the highest of referrals to me. I was at, as most of the viewers know, I was at Grant Williams and Stephanie Pomboy's conference a few weeks back, and the mystery guest there was Luke Grohman. And coming out of the conference, Luke actually reached out to me proactively and said, Hey, Adam, one of the absolute smartest guys that I talk to is this guy, Peter Alexander, who has basically educated me tremendously about what's going on in China, and I rely on his insights heavily for all things related to China. You really should approach him about having you on your program. Well, look, I didn't need to be asked twice, and you kindly accepted. And just as we were getting ready to go live here, you mentioned you really haven't done many of these podcasts before. So I very much appreciate you selecting Thoughtful Money as one of the ones to make your debut on here.

**Peter Alexander** (3:31)
No, I'm super, super appreciative of having the invitation and coming on with you. And, you know, to start out, you know, I've watched some of your stuff over the years. Really, I think the approach that you have taken with your guests and your topics is exactly kind of what the world needs these days. But if you don't mind, can I start by asking you a question?

**Adam Taggart** (3:52)
Sure, absolutely.

**Peter Alexander** (3:55)
Have you ever interviewed anybody who is actually based in China? Where I'm in Shanghai right now. I'm curious, I know you've had people before who come on and pontificated about China, but anybody who's actually been based here?

**Adam Taggart** (4:11)
Nobody who's actually been based there. I have talked to people who travel to China relatively frequently.
Jan Van Ek, the CEO of Van Ek Funds, comes to mind. I think the only, well, Jim Rogers, he lives close to China. I think he spends a fair amount of his time there. But again, I don't think he lives there full time. I think he lives in Singapore. Mark Fawber lives in Thailand. So no, I think I did attempt, there's another fellow on YouTube who has a lot of videos about what it's like inside China, and he talks a lot about the implications for Western companies that want to have a presence there. I did manage to get a hold of him, but he said, you know what, I'm getting a lot of pressure from my partners not to be as transparent as I've been about China. So he politely turned me down. So you are the very first to come at us who actually lives there. And you've been based there for what, 20 plus years?