President Donald Trump’s administration will block Americans from downloading China-based applications WeChat and TikTok, citing national security concerns. This ban will go in effect on Sunday. U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said in a statement “Today’s actions prove once again that President Trump will do everything in his power to guarantee our national security and protect Americans from the threats of the Chinese Communist Party.”

Meanwhile, China is making a new push for logistic systems to stabilize its supply chains, and planned projects include the construction of hundreds of new airports. Yet behind this move is something deeper, and it may give us another hint at the true state of the Chinese economy. We'll be explaining this in-depth.

And the new Quad alliance formed between the United States, Japan, India, and Australia is working to stand up against the Chinese Communist Party. According to Bruce Klingner, Senior Research Fellow on Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation, Japan in particular may need a bit more of a push to reach its full capabilities — and when it comes to standing up against the Chinese government, this may be necessary. He argues that the issue Japan faces isn’t its defense capabilities, but instead its hesitancy to employ them. To get a better sense of this, we’ve invited Bruce Klingner to speak with us.