This is the full version of Jan Jekielek’s interview with Kyle Bass. The interview was originally released on Epoch TV on June 26, 2025. In this episode, Jan Jekielek is sitting down again with Kyle Bass, founder and chief investment officer of Hayman Capital Management and founding member of the Committee on the Present Danger: China, to get an update on how China’s economy is faring since their last interview five months ago.“There’s nothing that’s going to bail China out of their economic spiral. They’re having a real estate crisis, a banking crisis, a youth unemployment crisis, and now they need to be worried about their current account,” Bass says.How have the Trump administration’s policies and recent events affected China and its economy?And how do the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites impact the Chinese regime’s ambitions in Taiwan? How likely is a kinetic war?CHAPTER TITLES0:00:00 – Introduction: Geopolitical Tensions and Economic Challenges0:00:11 – Interview Setup with Kyle Bass0:01:01 – Iran-Israel Conflict: Strategic Military Operations0:04:09 – Ceasefire Dynamics and Middle Eastern Volatility0:10:59 – Economic Instability and Global Inflation0:13:44 – China’s Economic Crisis and Trade Dynamics0:18:14 – Debt-to-GDP Ratio and Financial Vulnerabilities0:22:10 – Leverage Points: US and China’s Strategic Pressures0:26:47 – Taiwan’s Strategic Importance and US Defense Commitment0:34:18 – Potential for Democratic Transformation0:36:40 – Gray Zone Warfare and South China Sea Tensions0:41:51 – US Domestic Economic Challenges and Deficit Spending0:46:12 – Inevitability of Global Conflict0:47:30 – Deterrence and Best-Case Scenarios0:48:53 – Potential for Internal Change in Authoritarian Regimes0:49:23 – Concluding Thoughts
