As Brazil heads into the October 25 runoff election between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, the country stands as a crucial battleground in Washington’s strategy to contain China, as well as global geopolitics.

What does this election mean for the future of China-Brazil ties, the BRICS alliance, and independent technological sovereignty across the Global South?

Tings Chak – researcher, writer, and art director for the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research – joins Amanda Yee to break down the two competing paths for Brazil represented by Lula and Bolsonaro.

Read Chak’s article: “How Brazil’s election could reshape relations with China”

On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong stood in Tiananmen Square and declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China, bringing an end to the “Century of Humiliation” and setting a nation representing a quarter of humanity on a path toward self-determination. Seventy-seven years later, China stands as a global superpower, navigating a rapidly shifting multipolar world order and escalating containment pressures from the United States.

Professor of East Asian and global history Dr. Ken Hammond joins Amanda Yee to break down the historical, economic, and geopolitical forces that have shaped modern China’s development and foreign policy over the past 77 years.

China is cracking down on billionaires and corruption. Following the landmark sentencing of Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan (Xu Jiayin) to life in prison and the seizure of his assets, independent journalist Ben Norton joins Amanda Yee to break down President Xi Jinping’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign and how a socialist government disciplines capital.

Norton explains how in China, capital may create wealth, but the Communist Party maintains control over the steering wheel of the economy. And while Western regulatory systems often protect private oligarchy and corporate impunity, Xi Jinping since 2012 has taken aggressive action against high-profile tycoons and corrupt Party officials alike.

Norton is a Beijing-based journalist and the founder and editor of Geopolitical Economy Report.