logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
19m 21s

Shadow War - 4. Who’s Listening?

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

Could growing tensions lead to conflict? The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times – how far to co-operate, compete or confront? But has the West taken its eye off the ball? BBC Security Correspondent Gordon Corera looks at the points of friction in recent history, from espionage to free speech, the battle over technology and claims of political interference. This is a story about the competition to shape the world order. He speaks to politicians, spies, dissidents and those who’ve been caught up in the growing tension between China and the West.

Presenter: Gordon Corera Series Producer: John Murphy Sound Designer: Eloise Whitmore (Naked Productions) Programme Coordinator: Katie Morrison Series Editor: Penny Murphy

Up next
Jul 2024
Escape from the Maze: 1. H is for Hatred
Eight prison blocks of hatred shaped like the letter 'H'...It's supposed to be escape proof - the most secure prison in western Europe. The IRA is going to turn that on its head.Across ten twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside ... Show More
14m 32s
Jul 2024
Escape from the Maze: 2. Thinking Big
The British government wants a line to be drawn but the IRA has sensed an opportunity... Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak ever ... Show More
14m 32s
Jul 2024
Escape from the Maze: 3. Toast
IRA inmates gather a key piece of intelligence and a charm offensive begins on the wings...Across 10 twisting and turning episodes, Carlo Gebler navigates a path through the disturbing inside story of the 1983 escape from Northern Ireland's Maze Prison - the biggest jailbreak eve ... Show More
14m 40s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 17
Starmer ally: Come clean on relations with China after spy row
It’s been a week where the politics of the Middle East and Britain’s relations with China have loomed large over Westminster. For all the backslapping and goodwill of Sharm el-Sheikh, will the ceasefire and exchange of hostages and prisoners in Gaza pave the way for a political s ... Show More
31m 34s
Oct 19
The Cold War
For decades after the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States of America were locked in a conflict of ideology that took the planet to the brink of catastrophe. Known as the Cold War, it was an era of paranoia, fear and mutual suspicion, where the contest for sup ... Show More
57m 50s
Oct 3
Who’s Going To Win The Future? Dan Wang on China’s Engineers vs. America’s Lawyers | GoodFellows | Hoover Institution
<p>One great power (China) has a relentless thirst to build that comes with a terrible human cost, while its main rival (America) is a more lawyerly and free society that’s prone to stifling ideas both good and bad. On the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic ... Show More
1h 7m
Feb 2024
A life in the American century
<p>With the United States’ presidential election just a few months away, the stakes go far beyond domestic politics. The results will decide the future of American foreign policy, at least for the next four years. In the corridors of power in Washington, US policymakers will need ... Show More
37m 6s
May 2024
Introducing Shadow War: China and the West
The rise of China is the defining challenge of our times - has the west been slow to wake up? Gordon Corera investigates the rise of China in Shadow War: China and the West. 
2m 55s
Nov 6
Xi Jinping’s World of Treachery and Sacrifice
<p>Last week’s meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping may have brought a respite in the trade war. But it hardly touched the more fundamental drivers of U.S.-Chinese rivalry, a rivalry that has come to shape more and more dimensions of geopolitics, the global economy, and be ... Show More
56m 45s
Sep 16
83. The Man Who Saved The World: Countdown to Armageddon (Ep 4)
It’s 1983 and the world is on the brink of nuclear war. Operation Able Archer has ratcheted tensions right up, how is Oleg Gordievski going to prevent a nuclear apocalypse? Is this the greatest contribution of any spy to humanity? And what does it say about the enduring value of ... Show More
50m 34s
Oct 5
88. China vs Google: When Beijing Took on Silicon Valley (Ep 1)
"Like many other well-known organisations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis." This was the striking public statement from Google's chief legal officer in January 2010. What began as a major security incident - a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack ... Show More
41m 52s