For 30 years, the Chinese government has broadcasted CCTV-7: a state-run TV channel focused solely on national defense and global military affairs. Imagine Meet the Press, but run by the Department of Defense. In its daily commentary segment, military scholars and retired admirals dissect topics ranging from Ukrainian FPV drone tactics to naval operations near Second Thomas Shoal, offering a rare window into Chinese military doctrine.

Taken together, these broadcasts form a rough proxy for China’s strategic worldview: how the PLA leadership interprets global affairs, and what the CCP wants its public to believe. But CCTV-7 is difficult for outsiders to access—it's a Chinese-language, un-subtitled livestream in Beijing's timezone hosted on a proprietary web player. To bridge that gap, I transcribed, translated, and analyzed 30 consecutive days of programming to better understand how China frames global conflicts, views its adversaries, and signals its military posture.