Sinica Podcast

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes Taisu Zhang, professor of law at Yale University, who discusses his recent work on the expansion of the administrative state down to the subdistrict and neighborhood level — changes that are far-reaching, and likely permanent. They also discuss a recent essay in Foreign Affairsi n which Taisu argued that Beijing is shifting away from "performance legitimacy" as the foundation of political rule, and more toward legality — not to be confused with the rule of law.3:29 – Nationalism as legitimacy, and its grounding in economic performance7:45 – The CCP’s unique approach to “legal legitimacy”21:28 – Evidence from the Two Meetings, or 兩會 liǎnghuì35:56 – Chinese Administrative Expansion in the Xi Jinping Era49:40 – The role of the anti-corruption campaign in expanding local government authority56:18 – Changes in local governance after COVID1:01:27 – Who were the dàbái?1:04:10 – Technology in China’s post-pandemic power structureA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Taisu: The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy by David Graeber; The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development by Yuhua Wang; Uncertainty in the Empire of Routine: The Administrative Revolution of the Eighteenth-Century Qing State by Maura Dykstra; The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu; and The Lower Yangzi Trilogy by Ge FeiKaiser: Kaiser: Assignment China: An Oral History of American Journalists in the People's Republic by Mike Chinoy; and the many uses of beeswaxSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Lulu Chen, who has reported on tech in China for over a decade and is the author of the book Influence Empire: The Inside Story of Tencent and China's Tech Ambition. It's a fascinating look at not only Tencent but at the overall internet sector in China, focusing on the travails and the triumphs of some of the most consequential Chinese internet entrepreneurs.5:31 – Motivation for and background of Influence Empire10:15 – Ma Huateng and Martin Lau at Tencent19:56 – How the Chinese internet sector went from copying to innovating30:59 – Cutthroat company cultures33:20 – What made Allen Zhang successful?37:25 – The Tencent-Meituan food delivery coup45:21 – Tencent’s position in the online game industry51:58 – Understanding China’s 2020-2022 tech crackdownA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Lulu: The Gay Talese Reader: Portraits and Encounters by Gay TaleseKaiser: Cunk on Earth on NetflixSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A second full episode this week for you Sinica listeners! Jude Blanchette joins to talk about the House Select Committee on United States Competition with the Chinese Communist Party, and all that is wrong with it, from its framing of the CCP as an "existential threat" to its focus on the CCP, and how all of this adds up to an embarrassing moral panic that distracts from the serious issues the U.S. confronts when it comes to China.4:37 – What’s wrong with the Select Committee’s framing of China as an “existential threat,” and why the first hearing was an embarrassment9:01 – The current moment as a moral panic over China12:09 – Domestic political drivers of U.S. China policy15:04 – Why the United States versus the Chinese Communist Party is the wrong framing too22:46 – Is this more like McCarthyism — or antisemitism? 28:58 – The downstream effects of U.S. tech containment policy toward China42:01 – The advantage of simplistic, Manichean messaging46:15 – Prioritizing U.S. issues with China: why Confucius Institutes and TikTok are so far down the to-do list, and what really matters48:59 – And what are the real issues that deserve priority?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.comRecommendations:Jude: Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam, from AudibleKaiser: This podcast interview with Angela Rasmussen, the virologist who has been in the front lines fighting back against the resurgent lab leak theory, from the Slate What Next: TBD podcastSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy speak with Henry Sanderson, a former AP and Bloomberg reporter who was based in China for many years, about his book Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green — a book that reminds us of the very ugly fact that the metals that are needed to make electric vehicle batteries need to be dug out of the earth, and processed in ways that are anything but environmentally friendly. Henry talks about China's outsize role in lithium, cobalt, and nickel processing, as well as some promising chemistries that allow for EV batteries without some of the problematic metals.2:49 – China’s role in the EV battery supply chain9:36 – Global Chinese investments in lithium mines14:04 – Is cobalt a necessary evil?18:56 – Can NGO pressure induce better corporate behavior in EV battery supply chains?21:28 – How Indonesia used its nickel resources to attract Chinese FDI26:17 – China’s efforts to innovate around scarce metals32:08 – China’s metal processing industry: State- or market-driven?36:06 – Lessons from Europe’s battery industry40:42 – Electrification of two-wheeled vehiclesA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: London Review of BooksHenry: The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir by Karen CheungKaiser: Tracking the People’s Daily newsletter by Manoj KewalramaniSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's been one year now since Vladimir Putin launched his assault on Ukraine, and China has sought to maintain the same difficult, awkward straddle across a difficult year. Did Beijing's efforts to project the impression that it had distanced itself from Russia in the wake of the Party Congress mean anything? And how should the U.S. manage its expectations of what China can or will do? Evan Feigenbaum, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, joins us again as he did a year ago. We're also joined by his colleague Alexander (Sasha) Gabuev, who is a senior fellow at Carnegie, who headed the Carnegie Moscow Center until recently.4:37 – Are Beijing’s actions surprising?7:34 – The nature of China-Russia relations15:45 – How has Beijing concretely supported Russia?22:07 – Did Beijing know Putin was going to invade?29:48 – European perspectives on the No Limits partnership37:02 – Beijing’s assessment of Russia’s military performance39:07 – What Beijing has learned from Russia’s invasion46:47 – What carrots can the United States offer China?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Sasha:  Writing From Ukraine: Fiction, Poetry and Essays since 1965 by Mark AndryczykEvan: The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War,1916-1917 by Philip ZelikowKaiser: Jessica Chen Weiss on The Ezra Klein Show and The Problem With Jon Stewart; "Avoiding Catastrophe Will Be the True Test of Fractious U.S.-China Relations," an op-ed in the Financial Times by Jude BlanchetteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Raffaello Pantucci, co-author of the 2022 book Sinostan: China's Inadvertent Empire, which examines China's presence in Central Asia. Based on extensive travel and interviews undertaken both before and after the tragic murder of his co-author, Alexandros Petersen, in 2014, the book is a highly readable if difficult to categorize melange of analysis and anecdote, history and travelogue, and it paints a complex portrait of China's extensive efforts to build out a network of commercial and cultural ties throughout the pivotal region.3:48 – Remembering the late Alexandros Petersen9:35 – Xinjiang’s importance in Beijing’s Central Asia policy13:36 – Central Asian states’ reactions to Xinjiang internment camps24:39 – Assessing China’s soft power in Central Asia37:10 – BRI: strategic calculus or ad-hoc scramble?43:32 – Evolution of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization49:45 – China’s characterization of terrorism54:45 – The SCO today and China’s growing security footprint1:03:03 – China in Afghanistan1:10:36 – Current status of the BRIA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Raffaello: The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan; The Geographical Pivot of History by Halford MackinderKaiser: Volt Rush by Henry SandersonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, we've got a short show focused on the Chinese balloon that became the obsessive focus of American attention from Thursday through Sunday, February 5, when an F-22 shot it out of the sky off of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Gerard DiPippo, a senior fellow with the Economics Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, joins to discuss the incident and its potential fallout.We'll have the transcript for you on the website in a day or so.2:27 –Establishing the facts about the Balloon4:32 – Precedents for U.S. reactions to aerial surveillance7:36 – Was the balloon’s flight path intentional?9:34 – Why did the Pentagon go public?13:26 – The thinking behind Blinken’s postponement15:47 – Reactions in U.S. media17:19 – Beijing’s perspective on the U.S. reaction20:23 – How Gerard Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BalloonA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Gerard: The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: America and China, 1776 to the Present, by John PomfretKaiser: Improbable Diplomats: How Ping-Pong Players, Musicians, and Scientists Remade US-China Relations by Pete MillwoodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, our live recording from the Rizzoli Bookstore in the Flatiron district of Manhattan with the legendary Ian Johnson, who has covered China for a host of publications spanning 35 years. Ian, who is now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, offers his analysis of media coverage, shares some pet peeves in the way China is reported, and offers a sneak peek at some of the themes of his forthcoming book.4:31 – Beijing’s shifting diplomatic messaging12:10 – U.S. media coverage of China’s COVID-19 policies14:45 – Structural biases of reporting on/in China24:05 – Reporting on China through social media29:46 – Resisting and recasting the blob’s China narrative39:52 – How think tanks affect China discourse in the U.S.43:03 – The importance of history to the CCPA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: Paul French's Ultimate China Bookshelf, a new feature at The China ProjectIan: Golden Age by Wáng Xiaǒbō 王小波, translated by Yan Yan; Blue Note jazz LP re-issues Kaiser: Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy, narrated by Julia Whelan and Edoardo BalleriniSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When the National Bureau of Statistics recently revealed that China's population had shrunk in 2022 for the first time in 60 years, conventional wisdom predicted that China was headed for catastrophe, as its workforce shrank, its pension coffers dried up, and its healthcare system grew overtaxed. Not so fast, says Bert Hofman, who spent 22 years in Asia with the World Bank, focused chiefly on China. Now a professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Government at the National University of Singapore, Bert offers a deeply-informed take on the challenges China does face — and how it might address them without suffering economic stagnation.4:24 – Why population decline isn’t necessarily bad5:55 – Why are low birth rates a challenge for China?7:49 – How China can offset the “demographic tax” of population decline13:40 – Is declining investment such a bad thing for China?18:27 – Common prosperity and the pension system23:45 – Challenges and solutions for healthcare reform27:41 – The logic of beginning with fiscal reform33:18 – The shortfalls of focusing on raising fertility rates38:06 – What can China learn from other countries?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.comRecommendations:Bert: China Reconnects by Wang Gungwu; The Last of Us on HBO MaxKaiser: Great Circle by Maggie ShipsteadSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, we welcome back Deborah Seligsohn, assistant professor of political science at Villanova University. Debbi spent October 2022 through early January 2023 in Shanghai and Beijing, experiencing quarantine, testing, and lockdown at firsthand — and witnessing the protests and the sudden reopening. As a close observer of public health issues, she lends valuable perspective to what happened in these critical months.8:13 – Overview of how zero-COVID impacted different demographics in China17:54 – Which level of government was held accountable during the zero-COVID protests?23:03 – Factors that contributed to the breakout of protests29:05 – Rationale behind the sudden lifting of COVID regulations38:17 – Assessing Beijing’s failure to effectively expand its medical capacity45:45 – Efficacy of Chinese vaccines49:45 – Understanding poor vaccination rate amongst the elderly population55:45 – Breakdown of China’s COVID situation after the relaxation of zero-COVID measures1:03:32 – Unpacking the new negative test requirements imposed on Chinese travelers1:09:56 – Is China under-reporting its death rate?A transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Debbi: two-part interview with Jesse Jenkins from the Volts Podcast, detailing the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS act, and the Infrastructure BillKaiser: Demon Copperhead, the latest novel by Barbara Kingsolver. A coming of age story set in Southern Appalachia.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, we're proud to introduce you to Susan St. Denis, who joined The China Project full-time recently after running the China Vibe Official TikTok channel for The China Project for the last several months. Kaiser and Susan talk about what people are getting wrong about TikTok, the challenges of presenting complex issues in this medium, and much more!1:01 – Introducing The China Project’s official TikTok channel: China Vibe TikTok08:25 – Challenging the assumption that TikTok content is inherently dumbed down12:13 – Why Susan’s content was a good fit for The China Project14:30 – Unique challenges of covering China on TikTok19:16 – Providing a balanced account within TikTok’s landscape of extreme views on China21:52 – How different generations view China28:35 – How to access Susan’s China TikTok content29:39 – How legitimate are the security and privacy concerns surrounding TikTok?A transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations – Susan: Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China by Han Suyin; The China America Student Conference (www.iscdc.org)Kaiser: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford; and an ambivalent endorsement of the Conqueror series by Conn Iggulden.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, we proudly present Episode 1 of the newest season of Strangers in China: Lockdown Part 1: A day in the life.The 2022 Shanghai lockdown came to Clay’s neighborhood early and caught him off-guard. Struggling with his mental health, Clay documents how lockdown works on a granular level giving listeners an audio tour of his neighborhood as it plunges into the uncertainty of all the minutiae of day-to-day life living under the control of the apparatuses that shut down an entire city for several months. The boredom, the stress, the terror. He documents clashes with local bureaucracy and the ingenuity of the people of Shanghai who had to live through these dark and strange times. Clay ventures out into a city as it’s about to enter the full city lockdown and gives listeners a sense of what a city looks like before it's irrevocably changed. Music credits:Csushttps://soundcloud.com/csusMoss Heim-https://soundcloud.com/mossheim-experimental/cutup-test-cycle-7000Treyhttps://soundcloud.com/tristan-phipps-1/tranceJaieshttps://soundcloud.com/jaiessBaryhttps://soundcloud.com/bary_is_coolGinger pitcherhttps://soundcloud.com/gingerpitcherfredfrohTDP-Experimentalhttps://soundcloud.com/user-99078702Xxiukhttps://soundcloud.com/xxiukLakey Inspiredhttps://soundcloud.com/lakeyinspiredTazLazulihttps://soundcloud.com/tazlazuliTerri skillshttps://soundcloud.com/beatz-by-terri-skillzLofeehttps://soundcloud.com/lofeetunesDr3am____https://soundcloud.com/dr3am-officialPurrple Cathttps://soundcloud.com/purrplecatYe Old Experimental Junkhttps://soundcloud.com/ye-old-experimental-junkLe ganghttps://soundcloud.com/thisislegangObanihttps://soundcloud.com/obaniJozwynhttps://soundcloud.com/jozwynMCVhttps://soundcloud.com/just-chillin-654995634Works consultedhttps://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-60893070https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-12/shanghai-residents-remain-largely-under-lockdown-despite-easinghttps://isdp.eu/publication/xi-jinping-and-the-administrative-hierarchy-and-subdivisions-in-china/https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/elizabethperry/files/managed_campaigns_-_proofs.pdfhttps://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1178528.shtmlhttps://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1184356.shtmlhttps://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/694299https://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1209&context=psilrhttps://www.smh.com.au/world/pocket-of-poverty-the-new-shanghai-has-left-behind-20121109-293dl.htmlhttps://www.scmp.com/video/china/3187061/shanghais-old-west-gate-neighbourhood-emptied-demolition-and-redevelopmenthttps://academic.oup.com/columbia-scholarship-online/book/20259/chapter-abstract/179324873?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=falseThe work of Michel FoucaultSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We proudly present Episode 1 of the new season of Strangers in China, part of the Sinica Network from The China Project. In this season, host Clay Baldo provides an intimate look at the lockdown in Shanghai, from the foreboding that preceded it through the harrowing days of the lockdown itself.Be sure to subscribe to the show, too! Just look up Strangers in China in your podcast app of choice and hit subscribe.2:21 – A preview of this season of Strangers in China8:23 – The Shanghai fāngcāng方舱 and emergence of spontaneous mass gatherings13:28 – Explaining the role of neighborhood committees/ jūwěihuì 居委会 in China  18:39 – The exploration of mental health throughout this podcast24:21 – Clay’s process in producing the podcast28:06 – The editorial choice to not dub over Chinese speakers 31:29 – Can the protests like the one that broke out on Urumqi Lu emerge again?37:15 – Examples of strong group solidarity during the lockdown43:35 – Clay’s thoughts on the recent loosening of restrictionsA transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Clay: 3 Shanghai fashion Instagram accounts to follow – Windowsen (@windowsen), Susu, (@_su.su.su.su). Lexi (@jing_sen_); and the book Seeing Like a State by James C. Scott. Kaiser: The Long Ships by Frans BengtssonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Rebecca Kuang (who writes under the name R.F. Kuang), the author of the best-selling historical fantasy novel Babel. Set in the 1830s in England, the novel’s Chinese-born protagonist sets out to prevent a war with China over the opium trade. It’s a novel about the industrial revolution, labor activism, revolution, and — surprisingly — language, etymology, and translation.2:28 – On Rebecca's own connections to China and her anxieties about losing the Chinese language8:27 – What historical insights Rebecca hoped her readers would take away from Babel14:37 – Parallels between the U.K. of the early 19th century and the U.S. of the early 21st20:26 – Refections on revolution and revolutionaries25:48 – Silver working: the magic system in Babel and its relation to language30:37 – Issues with translation theory presented in the book38:04 – How Rebecca’s background in debate influenced her writing style45:03 – Rebecca's forthcoming novel YellowfaceA transcript of this podcast will be available soon at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Rebecca: The film Banshees of Inisherin and other works by its director, Martin McDonagh, including the dark comedy In Bruges (2008).Kaiser: The new novel by Cormac McCarthy The Passenger, and a review of it by James Wood in The New Yorker.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Jude Blanchette (Freeman Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies) and Ryan Hass (Armacost Chair at the John L. Thornton Center at the Brookings Institute) join Kaiser to discuss their new essay in Foreign Affairs, "The Taiwan Long Game: Why the Best Solution Is No Solution.”3:05 – Reconceptualizing Taiwan as “a strategic problem with a defense component” 6:00 – Why expanding the scope of the Taiwan issue beyond the military dimension should not be conflated with capitulation13:34 – Has current U.S. policy abandoned preserving status quo cross-strait relations?17:27 – Why has China refrained from the use of force thus far?27:05 – China, U.S., and Taiwan’s heightened sense of urgency31:22 – How Ukraine alters China’s decision calculus on Taiwan36:44 – What pertinent challenges should the US be planning for rather than exclusively focusing on the threat of invasion?43:58 – The issue with democracy vs authoritarianism framing46:01 – The importance of considering Taiwanese agency when crafting US policy48:40 – How the U.S. should define its one-China policy53:19 – Opportunities for a detente between Washington and BeijingA transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Ryan: "How We Would Know When China Is Preparing to Invade Taiwan," by John Culver; the film White Christmas Jude: The podcast In the Dark from American Public MediaKaiser: "A Professor Who Challenges the Washington Consensus on China," Ian Johnson’s piece in The New Yorker about Jessica Chen WeissSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy welcome Diana Choyleva and Dinny McMahon, who recently published a report for the Wilson Center on China's efforts to internationalize the Renminbi, its currency. Diana Choyleva is chief economist and founder of Enodo Economics, an independent macroeconomic forecasting consultancy she set up in 2016. Dinny McMahon is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and author of the book China's Great Wall of Debt. Their report is called “China’s Quest for Financial Self-Reliance: How Beijing Plans to Decouple from the Dollar-Based Global Trading and Financial System.”2:38 – The advantages the U.S. enjoys through the dollar’s global primacy4:40 – How Beijing sees the dollar’s dominance as a strategic vulnerability7:11 – Other countries who actively pursued internationalization of their currency10:07 – International trust deficit regarding China’s currency13:37 – Right-sizing China’s currency ambitions15:13 – How China incentives increased demand for the RMB24:19 – Are we currently at a critical turning point of currency displacement?36:42 – The role of digital currency in China’s monetary strategy  43:42 – The BRI as a mechanism for expanding the circulation of the RMB A transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay; Kay's Anatomy by Adam Kay Diana: Picking up dancing as a pastime; China: The Gathering Threat by Constantine MengesDinny: Lombard Street by Walter BagehotKaiser: The Amazon miniseries The English See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Michael J. Mazarr, author of the book Leap of Faith: Hubris, Negligence, and America's Greatest Foreign Policy Tragedy, which examines the decision to invade Iraq in March 2003. Mike is a senior political scientist at the Rand Corporation and a former professor at the National War College, and he warns of certain parallels between what happened 20 years ago and the growing sense of urgency and moral imperative to confront China that he now senses in Washington.3:40 – Patterns that lead to poor decision-making in the realm of foreign policy and warfare8:30 – Parallels between American discourse on Iraq and China13:54 – American exceptionalism and the missionary mindset  15:51 – Much like the US experience after 9/11, could an equivalent “deeply felt imperative” trigger catastrophic conflict with China?21:15 – The danger of moralistic thinking overriding rational cost-benefit analysis27:37 – What does Washington hope to gain from the imputation of CCP illegitimacy?  31:47 – Debunking the claim that Washington exaggerates threats for the sake of increasing the defense budget35:49 – The role of media and Congress in the lead-up to the Iraq war40:49 – The difference between effective policymaking and policy negligence: assessing the Bush and Biden administrations  47:29 – Adapting the liberal “rules-based international order” to reflect contemporary realities  52:27 – The shortcomings of a reductionist “democracy vs. authoritarianism” foreign policyA full transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Mike: Mr. X and the Pacific by Paul Heer; The Guardians: Kingman Brewster, His Circle, and the Rise of the Liberal Establishment by Geoffrey KabaserviceKaiser: Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. KuangSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We've got a special bonus episode this week on the protests over the weekend of November 26th-27th in multiple cities around China. Joining Kaiser and Jeremy are old friends David Moser and Jeremiah Jenne, co-hosts of the Barbarians at the Gate podcast, who have 50 years in Beijing between them. David Moser is a linguist, academic administrator, and accomplished jazz pianist and composer. Jeremiah Jenne is a writer and historian. Both David and Jeremiah are still in Beijing, and they offer an on-the-ground account of what happened and what it all means.A transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations – Jeremy: The Twitter account 李老师不是你老师 (Lǐ lǎoshī bùshì nǐ lǎoshī), with the handle @whyyoutouzhele; Cindy Yu’s Twitter account @CindyXiaodanYuJeremiah: Hygienic Modernity: Meanings of Health and Disease in Treaty-Port China by Ruth RogaskiDavid: The Globe and Mail article “In rare show of weakness, China's censors struggle to keep up with zero COVID protests” by James Griffith; Speak Not: Empire, Identity and the Politics of Language by James GriffithKaiser: Happiness is 4 Million Pounds, a New York Times documentary by Hao WuSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser & Jeremy welcome Yuan Yang, a reporter for the Financial Times who was until recently covering technology in Beijing. Now based in London, her beat is China-Europe relations, and on this episode she discusses German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's recent trip to China, and how Europe and European countries are navigating the fraught U.S.-China relationship.6:09 – Providing a balanced account of China’s tech ecosystem    9:38 – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's recent trip to Beijing16:00 – The strategic autonomy of European foreign policy18:41 – European countries’ fractured response to US tech restrictions on China21:58 – EU policies towards Xinjiang 24:31 – The impact of tech restrictions on European supply chains27:39 – The efficacy of sanctions30:12 – How China’s position on Russia damaged its reputation in Europe33:48 – European reaction to Biden-Xi meeting35:57 – How a change in the American presidency could disrupt the Transatlantic alliance system40:55 – The formulation of Sunak’s China policy  43:50 – Yuan’s new forthcoming book Private Revolutions  A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.comJeremy: Jewish comedian Ari ShaffirYuan: The Emily Wells album Regards to the End; The Dispossessed by Ursula Le GuinKaiser: mongulai.com, an e-commerce website specializing in Mongolian artisanal crafts; the Netflix show BarbariansSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, in lieu of the regular show we present a keynote address given by Evan Feigenbaum, VP for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, at the recent East Asia Strategy Forum, held on November 1-2 in Ottawa, Canada. The forum is put on annually by the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada — APF Canada — and by the Institute for Peace & Diplomacy. The Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada is a not-for-profit organization focused on Canada’s relations with Asia. Its mission is to be Canada’s catalyst for engagement with Asia and Asia’s bridge to Canada. The Institute for Peace & Diplomacy (IPD) is non-profit and non-partisan international affairs think tank operating in the United States and Canada dedicated to promoting dialogue, diplomacy, prudent realism, and military restraint. The event's moderator was Jeff Nankivell, CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada or APF Canada. Jeff was the Consul General to HK before taking his post at APF Canada.Kaiser also offers his quick take on the three-hour meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia.3:23 – Kaiser’s analysis of the recent Biden and Xi Meeting 10:19 – Start of Evan Feigenbaum's speech 13:26 – The tension between economic and security interests in the Indo-Pacific 20:06 – The tension between coalition-building and fragmentation in the Indo-Pacific  24:02 – The American approach to strategic competition with China in the region 32:34 – Question 1: What role can American allies play in setting a positive agenda?37:54 – Question 2: Do American national security issues have a tendency to get distorted by domestic political and economic considerations?51:34 – Question 3: Given domestic political constraints, is there any chance of diminishing the bipartisan consensus against China?54:29 – Question 4: Is there a conflict between the ‘rules-based international order’ and implementing targeted restrictions towards China?57:17 – Question 5: How sustainable is China’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Anne-Marie Slaughter, a leading American public intellectual who serves as president of New America and was Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department during the first Obama administration. Anne-Marie talks about how collaboration on issues of global concern — pandemics, global warming, and more — requires the U.S. to deprioritize some aspects of its competition with China.1:59 – Contradictions of the Biden doctrine5:18 – Reconciling Biden’s China policy and the possibility of climate cooperation13:43 – Deemphasizing national security on the American foreign policy agenda   20:23 – Potential for “positive competition”21:50 – The concept of networked governance36:04 – The dynamics of groupthink in US decision-making43:05 – Hope for the younger generation’s prospective policy shift  47:38 – Does race factor into our hostility towards China?50:19 – Potential for an affirmative vision on Biden’s China policy54:52 – How revisionist are China’s ambitions?59:49 – American tolerance for a diminished global roleA transcript of this interview is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Anne-Marie: To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara; A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara; The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson; What It Feels Like to Be a Bird by David SibleyKaiser: Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, our friends at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs invited us for a live show taping before a small group. Kaiser is joined by Lizzi Lee, MIT-trained economist-turned-reporter who hosts the Chinese-language show "Wall Street Today" as well as The China Project's "Live with Lizzi Lee," both on Youtube; and by Damien Ma, who heads the Paulson Institute's in-house think tank MacroPolo. These two top-shelf analysts of Chinese politics break down what was important — and what was just a sideshow — at the 20th Party Congress, and offer their knowledgeable perspectives on the individuals named to key posts and what this likely means for China's direction. Don't miss this one!2:40 – Findings from MacroPolo’s “fantasy PBSC” experiment   8:18 – Did China watchers overemphasize Xi Jinping’s political constraints?  12:31 – Support for Li Qiang across different political factions17:23 – The changing factional composition of Chinese elite politics20:20 – Return of the technocrats23:27 – “Generation-skipping” in China’s recent political promotions28:26 – The selection of Cai Qi32:46 – Li Shulei as a successor to Wang Huning 37:07 – The future of China’s economic leadership39:52 – Selection of the vice premiers 41:18 – The future of China’s diplomatic core45:28 – The Hu Jintao episode49:22 – Revising the “Zero-COVID” policy51:17 – Reassessing China’s intentions vis-à-vis Taiwan A transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations: Lizzi: Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion: Elite Power Struggles in the Soviet Union and China after Stalin and Mao by Joseph TorigianDamien: Slouching Towards Utopia by Brad DeLongKaiser: "Taiwan, the World-Class Puzzle," a Radio Open Source podcast hosted by Christopher LydonSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Evan Osnos, staff writer for The New Yorker, joins hosts Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn to talk about his new piece on one of the most puzzling figures to come out of China: Guo Wengui, a.k.a. Miles Kwok, who took what he learned about dealing with power and money in China and applied those lessons to the U.S., insinuating himself with leading figures of the American right. Who is this mysterious man, and what is he really after? In an unscripted episode that will bring some listeners back to the grotty apartment in Beijing where Sinica recorded in its very early days, Evan, Kaiser, and Jeremy parse the mysteries of the strange phenomenon of Guo Wengui.03:37 – Who is Guo Wengui?10:07 – Orville Schell’s experience with Guo Wengui14:48 – Steve Bannon’s comparison between Guo and Trump17:40 – The process of fact-checking this piece  23:03 – Guo’s potential ties to the pro-Xi Jinping clique26:02 – VOA’s interview with Guo30:06 – Guo’s campaign against Teng Biao and other Chinese dissidents33:57 – Guo’s role as an interlocutor on behalf of the MSS39:00 – Steve Wynn’s efforts to extradite Guo42:10 – Guo’s impact on the Chinese diaspora community45:11 – Guo’s influence on US-China relationsA transcript of this interview is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: "President Trump's First Term," by Evan Osnos, a New Yorker article written in 2016 predicting what would happen to the U.S. if Donald Trump won in 2016. (Spoiler: he did. And Evan was right).Evan: An audio tribute to legendary New Yorker editor John Bennet:  https://www.cjr.org/special_report/johnbennet.php  Kaiser: The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet, a forgivably melodramatic historical fiction novel with an emphasis on architectureSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Susan Shirk, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Pacific and Research Professor and Chair of the 21st Century China Center at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UCSD, about how the deliberately collective leadership of the Hu Jintao years set the stage for the over-concentration of power under Xi Jinping and created conditions for overreach. She argues that Chinese overreach was met with American overreaction — not just in the Trump years, but continuing into the Biden administration.11:35 – The thesis of Overreach and misconceptions based on the title15:50 – The decline of collective leadership  19:57 – Selection process of politburo members27:48 – The advantages of China’s former collective leadership system31:40 – How collective leadership often lead to overreach39:40 – How personalistic, overly centralized rule can also result in overreach43:02 – Increased paranoia, insecurity, and “permanent purge” culture under Xi49:59 – American overreaction to China’s ambitionsA transcript of this episode is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations: Susan – Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World by Howard French Kaiser – His hobby of Asian archery and finding a community/activity you’re passionate about outside your professional line of workSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy are joined by Sue-Lin Wong, who until recently covered China for The Economist and hosted an eight-part podcast series all about Xi Jinping called The Prince. The podcast features interviews with a wide range of China-watchers, peers of Xi, dissidents, and many others who offer insights into what makes Xi tick.3:38 – Reason behind naming the podcast “the Prince”5:53 – Differences between traditional journalism and podcasting9:52 – The role of Sue-Lin’s mother in the podcast13:37 – How corruption influenced Xi’s leadership style19:29 – Identifying Xi’s greatest anxieties: party in-fighting, the collapse of the USSR22:48 – Early signs of Xi’s ideological underpinnings most China watchers missed  29:33 – Did the CCP’s internal crisis make Xi’s rise inevitable?32:57 – Is Xi Jinping the most powerful man in the world?37:12 – Reframing the engagement debate after Xi’s administration41:51 – David Rennie’s view on China: “a giant utilitarian experiment”46:45 – Key insights on Xi that listeners of the Prince should walk away with52:16 – How Sue-Lin would brief an American policymaker on Xi Jinping’s main motivationsA transcript of this episode is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy – A Matter of Perspective: Parsing Insider Accounts of Xi Jinping Ahead of the 20th Party Congress, an article on The China Story written by Neil Thomas Sue-Lin – Race to the Galaxy, a two-player board game Kaiser – Interview with the Vampire, a new AMC TV seriesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy were live in London with a very special guest: Carrie Gracie, whose career with the BBC spanned three decades as a China-based correspondent, news presenter, and China editor. She talks about her podcast series on the Bo Xilai scandal, her longitudinal documentary series on White Horse Village, and her struggle with the BBC to win equal pay for women.6:02 – Murder in the Lucky Holiday Hotel and Carrie’s coverage of the Bo Xilai scandal and Chinese elite politics in 201211:38 – Overview of the main characters: Bo Xilai, Gu Kuilai, Neil Heywood, and Wang Lijun 35:18 – How the 2012 power struggle shaped Xi Jinping’s leadership style41:42 – Carrie’s key takeaways from following the Bo Xilai case44:33 – White Horse Village: documenting life of farmers across a decade in rural China50:56 – Changing conditions for foreign journalists in China56:52 – Advice to reporters starting in China1:01:05 – Assessing media organizations’ progress on dismantling the gender pay gapA transcript of this episode is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations: Jeremy: Yellowstone, a drama series about a family-owned ranch in Montana Carrie: Everything Everywhere All at Once; the Disney animated film MulanKaiser: the UK progressive rock band Porcupine Tree's current Continuation/Closure tour — Europe datesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Minister Xu Xueyuan, Deputy Chief of Mission at the PRC Embassy in Washington, D.C.A few words about the process, in the interest of transparency:Minister Xu’s team did request questions in advance, and they were all accepted without alteration except to suggest that two questions, both related to public diplomacy efforts, be combined. Questions on subjects like Taiwan, Xinjiang, and China’s Zero-COVID policy were all accepted without even any suggestions on changes of wording. Kaiser was also able to follow up on questions without any objection at all.Where Minister Xu cited numbers and made factual claims, we made a good faith effort to check them — for example, on the number of acres in the recent offshore oil lease approvals made by the Biden administration. Doubtless, there will be listeners who will wish that Kaiser had been more forceful, and there may be some who believe I was perhaps too forceful. Sinica is not a “gotcha” show and never has been, and we believe there is value in hearing the perspectives of a ranking Chinese diplomat, and we hope you agree that the interview is very much worth listening to.The interview has only been edited only for clarity and concision — taking out filler or hesitation words and pick-ups. 2:56 – Does the Biden administration’s China policy diverge from Trump's? 8:29 – China’s role in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization15:09 – China’s position on the Ukraine war 19:21 – How the Ukraine conflict factors into Beijing’s decision-making on Taiwan 23:11 – The diminishing appeal of “one country, two systems”29:56 – Beijing’s suspension of climate talks after the Pelosi visit38:20 – U.S.-China coordination on alleviating global economic issues46:37 – The possibility of diplomatic concessions to improve relations52:29 –The decline in people-to-people exchange between China and the U.S.1:00:27 – China’s Dynamic Zero-COVID policy1:08:16 – The 20th Party Congress’ impact on U.S.-China relations1:10:51 – Considering the Xinjiang issue from the American perspective1:20:10 – The unintended consequences of wolf-warrior diplomacy1:24:45 – Differing views on China in the Global South vs. Global NorthA full transcript of this interview is available at thechinaproject.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, we kick off the new network show, the China-Global South Podcast, with a conversation with the show's hosts and co-founders of the China-Global South Project (formerly the China Africa Project), Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden. Kaiser chats with them about where the show is going, and common misconceptions about China's role in the Global South.1:45 – Reasons for launching the new China-Global South Podcast13:50 – What Washington’s framing of China’s activity in the Global South gets wrong19:24 – Explaining the lack of China expertise in Africa and the Global North25:27 – The unresolved history of Western colonialism in Africa28:44 – How Chinese statecraft navigates Africa’s colonial legacy36:00 – The infantilization of African agency45:03 – The limited development options of African stakeholders47:33 – China’s environmental impact on the Global South57:13 – How small states can effectively navigate great power politicsA transcript of the podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Eric: Following Gyude Moore, Senior Policy Fellow at the Center for Global Development: @gyude_moore; Hannah Ryder; CEO of Development Reimagined: @hmryder; Ovigue Eguegu; Policy Analyst at Development Reimagined: @ovigweeguegu; and Christian-Geraud Neema; and Francophone Editor at the China-Global South Project: @christiangeraudCobus: The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa by Ching Kwan LeeKaiser: Chinese traditional bow maker AF Archery; The Way of Archery by Gao Ying, translated by Jie Tian and Justin MaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Wall Street Journal reporters Josh Chin and Liza Lin join the program to discuss their new book Surveillance State: Inside China's Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control. From Urumqi to Uganda and from Hangzhou to the Bronx, the book explores every facet of technological surveillance from the technocratic mindset that birthed it to its spread, with Beijing's help, to many countries of the developing world. But it also examines the role that U.S. tech companies played in giving rise to it.6:05 – The story of Tahir Hamut: a Uyghur poet living under Xinjiang’s surveillance state 12:50 – Will the Xinjiang model for surveillance be expanded to other parts of China? 16:37 – Is China actively pushing other countries to adopt its surveillance state practices? 23:26 – The case of Hangzhou: the benefits of the “smart city” model  27:17 – Is there a fundamental difference between the concept of “privacy” in China and the West? 30:55 – How Xu Bing’s film uses surveillance footage35:39 – What accounts for Chinese society’s changing views on privacy?40:12 – China’s tendency to apply an “engineering” mindset to fixing social problems47:57 – Assessing US companies’ role in enabling Chinese surveillance 52:27 – Devising a policy that effectively bans hardware used for Xinjiang surveillance1:01:03 – China’s new laws on digital data protection1:05:05 – What the social credit system’s popular narrative gets wrong 1:10:40 – An example of Chinese propaganda fabricating the surveillance system’s success  1:14:29 – The future of privacy protection in China and the WestA full transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Liza: The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy PregnancyJosh: The Backstreets: A Novel from Xinjiang by Perhat Tursun (translated by Darren Byler), a short novel about life for Uyghurs in modern China; The Wok: Recipes and Techniques: by Kenji LopezKaiser: After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics and How to Fix It by Will BunchSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes back University of Michigan political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang, who discusses a recent piece in the Journal of Democracy titled "How Resilient is the CCP?" The essay examines how China's bureaucracy remains surprisingly competent and even relatively autonomous despite Xi Jinping's highly personalistic style of rule.3:51 – Summarizing debates on Chinese governance in the current China watcher field 8:43 – Defining the concept of institutionalization and contextualizing it to China13:39 – Explaining Xi’s bureaucratic objectives: maintaining competence but limiting autonomy18:57 – Remaining areas of autonomy for China’s state bureaucracy22:11 – Key areas where Xi weakened bureaucracy26:08 – Institutionalization prior to the Xi era 29:00 – Main sources of resilience and threat under Xi’s new model for authoritarianism 31:45 – Fundamental difference between Mao and Xi34:52 – The revival of state bureaucracy and technocrats after Mao’s death40:13 – How do we understand the tension between expertise and ideology in Xi’s governance agenda?  46:15 – Historical roots of technocracy in the Chinese government49:09 – The CCP’s technocratic bureaucracy as an integral source of resilienceA complete transcript of this podcast is available on TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations: Yuen Yuen: Chinese drama series Zǒuxiàng gònghé 走向共和 (Towards the Republic); and Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David RemnickKaiser: Children of Earth and Sky, A Brightness Long Ago, and All the Seas of the World — a historical fantasy novel trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes back the Cornell political scientist Jessica Chen Weiss, who is back in Ithaca after a year spent as a CFR International Affairs Fellow working in the State Department's Office of Policy Planning. She talks about an important essay published in the latest edition of Foreign Affairs, titled "The China Trap: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Perilous Logic of Zero-Sum Competition,” which calls on the U.S. to formulate an affirmative vision for the relationship with China instead of pursuing an ad-hoc policy predicated simply on countering what China does.7:17 – Moving away from the current zero-sum framing of U.S.-China competition and adopting an “affirmative vision”12:29 – Shortcomings of the U.S. response to China’s strategy in the developing world15:11 – How competition with China framing has adverse consequences for domestic American politics  18:37 – Can the U.S. benefit from adopting certain aspects of the Chinese approach? 20:49 – The steps needed to return to normalized U.S.-China diplomacy25:00 – How can the US properly calibrate its China threat assessment? 34:05 – The relationship between China’s domestic challenges and its foreign policyA transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jessica: Stephen Walt and Dani Rodrik’s essay on a establishing a new global order in Foreign Affairs [forthcoming]; and After Engagement: Dilemmas in U.S.-China Security Relations by Jacques deLisle and Avery GoldsteinKaiser: The Lord of the Rings trilogy audiobooks narrated by Andy SerkisSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser and Jeremy welcome back Tom Orlik, Bloomberg's chief economist and author of the book China: The Bubble that Never Pops. Ahead of the release of the new, updated edition of his book, we ask him about all that has changed in the two-and-a-half years since the publication of the first edition — and whether the real estate crisis, the Common Prosperity agenda, China's fraying foreign relations, or the COVID lockdowns are finally going to bring about the crash long predicted by the "China bears."4:40 – Tom offers a succinct summary of the chief arguments in the first edition of China: The Bubble that Never Pops8:05 – Is China looking quite as clever as it was four months ago?11:08 – The Chinese economy’s great COVID shutdown stress test13:53 – China’s stimulus response20:22 – The future of the Common Prosperity agenda25:49 – China’s push for tech self-sufficiency33:00 – China’s present real estate crisis38:15 – Xi Jinping’s priorities: triage for the ailing Chinese economy44:00 – How bad will the damage be from China’s 2022 lockdowns?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: The Parker series,: crime fiction by Richard Stark, pen name of Donald E. WestlakeTom: Surveillance State by Josh Chin and Liza Lin; and Coalitions of the Weak by Victor ShihKaiser: The TV drama from Hulu, The BearSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy welcome Leroy Chiao, a NASA astronaut who flew three shuttle missions and served as commander of the International Space Station for over six months. Leroy is also very knowledgeable about China's space program and was the first American astronaut to visit the Astronaut Center of China outside of Beijing. He discusses the abortive history of Sino-American space collaboration, attitudes toward China's space program in the U.S., and China's impressive accomplishments and its grand ambitions for space.4:27 – How Leroy became an astronaut9:09 – The effects of long-term weightlessness15:10 – Leroy’s access to the Astronaut Center of China18:16 – The peak years of Sino-U.S. collaboration in space exploration23:11 – The Wolf Amendment and the end of Sino-American space collaboration26:36 – Leroy on the most impressive accomplishments of the Chinese space program37:53 – U.S.-China competition as a driver of advances in space technologies48:04 – Sino-Russian space cooperation?49:12 – The weaponization of outer space52: 58 – RecommendationsA complete transcript of this podcast is available on SupChina.com.Recommendations:Jeremy:  Nuremberg Diary by G.M. Gilbert.Leroy: Old Henry, a micro-Western filmKaiser: Putin by Philip Short; and a preview of a forthcoming paper about the Cyberspace Administration of China, CAC, written by Jamie HorsleySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser chats with Ali Wyne, senior analyst at the Eurasia Group's global macro geopolitics practice and author of the brand new book America's Great Power Opportunity: Revitalizing U.S. Foreign Policy to Meet the Challenges of Strategic Competition. Ali's book calls on American policymakers to craft a strategy that is guided by confidence and a clear vision of American renewal and emphasizes America's competitive advantages, rather than being determined by the behavior of our notional competitors, especially China.2:09 – The framework of great power competition and building a foreign policy that is not dictated by the actions of other great powers16:13 – The competitive challenges from China and Russia25:38 – America's psychological anxiety over China's rise39:30 – Eight principles for building a new foreign policy: Principle one – renew America's competitive advantages51:35 – Principle two: regard the power of America's domestic example, not as a supplement to external competitiveness, but as a precondition for it.56:22 – Principle three: do not use competitive anxiety as a crutch and principle four: frame internal renewal as an explicit objective of U.S. foreign policy, not as a desired byproduct1:01:19 – Principle five: enlisting allies and partners in affirmative undertakings1:08:26 – Principle six: appreciate the limits to American unilateral influence1:13:38 – Principle seven: pursue cooperative opportunities that can temper the destabilizing effects of great power competition1:17:29 – Principle eight: rebalance toward the Asia Pacific within economic focus1:20:12 – How Russia's invasion of Ukraine has affected the framework laid out in Ali's bookA complete transcript of this interview is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations:Ali: The Foreign Affairs essay "Beijing Is Still Playing the Long Game on Taiwan: Why China Isn’t Poised to Invade" by Andrew NathanKaiser: The Swedish TV show Clark on NetflixSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a week dominated by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, Kaiser welcomes John Culver, who served as national intelligence officer for East Asia from 2015 to 2017 and as a CIA analyst focusing on China for 35 years. John offers his perspective on Pelosi's trip and provides important context with a discussion of the last Taiwan Straits Crisis, in 1995-96 — a crisis touched off by Lee Teng-hui's decision to visit Cornell University, his alma mater. John also draws important parallels to the Diaoyu/Senkaku crisis of the fall of 2012, after the Japanese government nationalized the disputed islands.2:47 – A walkthrough of the last Taiwan Strait crisis13:45 – How China's growing capabilities could affect its decision-making in future Taiwan crises19:52 – Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan and the political environment surrounding her decision25:14 – Explaining China's interpretation of U.S. actions and the Chinese domestic political context32:21 – Parallels to the 2012 Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands episode35:22 – The potential fallout of this crisisA complete transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations: John: The late Alan Romberg's exegesis of the US-China negotiating record, "Rein In at the Brink of the Precipice" and Ryan Hass's book Stronger: Adapting America’s China Strategy in an Age of Competitive InterdependenceKaiser: Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada — and the town of Canmore as a great place to stay nearby.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, we offer listeners a sneak preview of one of the new shows coming soon to the Sinica Network: Café & Seda, or Coffee and Silk. While this episode is in English, the podcast will be mostly in Spanish — our first non-English show. The host is Parsifal D'Sola, who is Executive Director of the ABF China Latin America Research Center and a nonresident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. Parsifal is a native of Venezuela, and his focus is on Sino-Latin American relations. Between 2019 and 2020, he acted as Chinese Foreign Policy Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Interim Government of Venezuela of Juan Guaido.In this episode, Parsifal talks with Dr. Evan Ellis. Evan is a research professor of Latin American Studies at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. His work focuses on the region’s relationships with China and other non-Western Hemisphere actors as well as transnational organized crime and populism in the region. He previously served on the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean as well as international narcotics and law enforcement issues. Evan has also been awarded the Order of Military Merit José María Córdova by the Colombian government for his scholarship on security issues in the region.Latin America has been the world’s most affected region due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Poverty levels have risen considerably, and economic contraction is several points higher than the global average. How will this affect Sino- Latin American relations? Furthermore, while the United States increasingly loses influence across the region, Chinese foreign policy has become more sophisticated and localized, filling many of the spaces traditionally filled by the United States and other Western actors. Evan helps us answer these questions and offers recommendations both for the United States in dealing with China’s growing role in the region, as well as advice for Latin American countries in managing the challenges that greater engagement with China will bring about.      A complete transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations:China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy? By Evan EllisLinks of interest:Articles from Evan Ellis at Global AmericansAndrés Bello Foundation - China Latin America Research CenterTwitter: @FABChinaLatam | @REvanEllisSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser chats with Silvia Lindtner of the University of Michigan about her book Prototype Nation. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss how China's maker movement inspired the Party leadership to encourage tech entrepreneurship, how Shenzhen rose to such prominence in technology production, the fetishization of the shanzhai movement, and much more.5:29 How narratives on Chinese tech innovation have shifted14:10 What made China's technological innovation possible?20:37 State support for the maker movement and mass innovation29:52 The technocratic and entrepreneurial mindset of the CCP38:45 Techno-optimism in China versus the West45:57 Shenzhen's "hacker paradise" as a transnational project50:02 Orientalism in the West's fascination with shanzhai, or copycat, cultureA complete transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.RecommendationsSilvia: In This Moment, We Are Happy by Chen Qiufan and Surrogate Humanity: Race, Robots, and the Politics of Technological Futures by Kalindi Vora and Neda AtanasoskiKaiser:  Sarmat Archery based in Kiev, UkraineSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Paul Triolo, Senior VP for China and Technology Policy Lead at Dentons Global Advisors ASG, formerly and probably better known still as Albright Stonebridge Group. Paul provides an in-depth overview of today’s semiconductor landscape, from export control issues, to the unstable equilibrium between U.S., China, and Taiwan’s industries. He walks us through the strategic importance of semiconductors in U.S. national security considerations — and how unintended consequences of our current policies toward China might actually end up undermining U.S. national security. 04:45 – An overview of semiconductor geopolitics and supply chains20:33 – Why the U.S. is cutting China off from advanced semiconductor technologies27:02 – The shift in technology export controls from Trump to Biden32:08 – The CHIPS Act and subsidies for the semiconductor industry37:43 – Deterrence and Taiwan’s semiconductor industry as a “silicon shield”46:16 – Lessons learned from the chip shortage52:30 – Why is the U.S lighting a fire to Chinese self-sufficiency efforts?57:57 – The implications of Pelosi’s planned visit to TaiwanA transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations:Paul: Rob Dunn, A Natural History of the Future; and Ryan Hass, Stronger: Adapting America's China Strategy in an Age of Competitive InterdependenceKaiser: The Boys on Amazon PrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Villanova University historian Andrew Liu. Andy published an excellent essay in n+1 magazine in April that captured how the eclipse of the "wet-market" theory of COVID origins and its replacement by the "lab-leak" theory illustrates how an old racial form — "Orientalism," which sees countries of Asia as backward, dirty, and barbarous — gave way to what's been termed an "Asiatic" racial form, which reflects anxiety over Asians as hyperproductive, robotic, and technologically advanced.3:05 – Andy's n+1 essay on the lab leak theory and the two racial forms6:26 – A primer on Edward Said's Orientalism and why it's a poor fit for Asia today10:41 – The "Asiatic racial form" and the notionally "positive" Asian stereotypes13:58 – How Orientalism and the Asiatic racial form interact today and historically23:50 – Conspiracies on China, and what's wrong with the Asiatic form27:51 – Japan's rise as a parallel30:57 – How to talk about Chinese attitudes toward tech without invoking Asiatic stereotypes37:27 – Race, culture, and global capitalismA full transcript of this podcast is available on SupChina.com.Recommendations:Andy: Stay True: a memoir by the New Yorker writer Hua Hsu and donating to abortion providers in states affected by the end of Roe v. Wade:, like Abortion Care for Tennessee, abortioncaretn.orgKaiser: The Danish political drama Borgen on NetflixSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Jing Tsu, John M. Schiff Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures & Comparative Literature at Yale University, about her wonderful new book Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution that Made China Modern. Jing talks about her role as culture commentator for NBC during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, about how the written Chinese language has helped shape China, and about the fascinating individuals who worked to bring a writing system so deeply rooted in history and tradition into the modern world.Link to Jing and Kaiser interviewed for the Radio Opensource Podcast here.4:59 – Jing's role as cultural commentator for NBC during the Winter Games10:43 – The impetus for writing Kingdom of Characters16:09 – Why the critics of the Chinese writing system called for its destruction18:57 – What the defenders of the Chinese writing system love so much about it25:51 – The challenge of writing about the technology of Chinese writing29:05 – The Chinese writing system as a metaphor for China32:46 – The next technological frontiers for Chinese35:48 – Language and how it shapes thinking in ChinaA complete transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations:Jing: Everything Everywhere All at OnceKaiser: The Pattern of the Chinese Past by Mark Elvin; and Closure/Continuation, a new album by the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Shelley Rigger of Davidson College returns to the show to talk Taiwan. She's joined by Simona Grano, a sinologist and Taiwan specialist at the University of Zürich. They talk about President Joe Biden's recent "gaffes" that call into question the longstanding, unofficial U.S. policy of "strategic ambiguity," talk about how Taiwan has been impacted by the Ukraine War, and much more.4:59: – What did Joe Biden's latest "gaffe" on Taiwan actually signify?10:06 – Did "strategic ambiguity" serve its intended purpose?16:23 – The mood in Taiwan20:51 – The impact of the Ukraine War on thinking in Beijing and in Taipei34:12 – European countries navigating relationships with Taiwan43:54 – The "One China Principle" versus the "One China Policy"47:20 – Are bilateral trade agreements enough for Taiwan?50:27 – Ethnicity, nationality, and the Taiwan issue59:00 – Making sense of the PRC claim to TaiwanA complete transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations:Simona: Orphan of Asia, a novel by Wu Zhuoliu; and the show Orange is the New BlackShelley: Occupied, a Norwegian thriller series on NetflixKaiser: Meizhong.report, a Chinese-language resource from the Carter Center's U.S.-China Perception Monitor, covering official, media, and social media commentary on U.S.-China relationsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with James (Jay) Carter, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Jay, who joined us on the show in December 2020 to talk about his book Champion's Day, is the author of one of the most widely-read columns that SupChina runs: This Week in China's History. In honor of two full years of contributions, with over 100 columns, Kaiser asked Jay to talk about his process, his purpose, and the challenges and the rewards of writing this excellent column.6:34 – The origin story of the column, and its original intention11:34 – How the hell does Jay do it week in and week out?23:84 – Jay talks about Jonathan Spence and what it was like to study under him at Yale31:32 – On the diversity of perspectives in the column40:53 – How the column keeps Jay connected to academic work and intellectual life43:35 – Threading the needle in deploying historical analogy, and right-sizing historical "rhymes" and patternsA complete transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations:Jay: The Broadway musical Hadestown; and the New York City BalletKaiser: The inaugural Sinologia Conference on June 10See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes back Dr. George Hu, a clinical psychologist based in Shanghai, who has a lot to say about the state of mental health in Chinese cities under lockdown. Unsurprisingly, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression have been exacerbated under conditions of isolation and food insecurity. Surprisingly, there's a silver lining or two to the whole thing.6:52 – Getting a sense for the scale of mental health problems related to the lockdown in Shanghai16:23 – Have the lockdowns increased awareness of and empathy for people suffering from mental health disorders in Shanghai and in China?20:07 – The lockdowns and impact on children and on the elderly34:05 – The impact on essential workers42:21 – What other Chinese cities are learning from Shanghai's COVID-19 experience45:22 – The quarantine centers and mental health servicesA full transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations:George: How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid For Success by Julie Lythcott-HaimsKaiser: Nicholas Confessore's series in the New York Times on Tucker Carlson, "American Nationalist"See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes veteran Asia reporter Demetri Sevastopulo, who covers the U.S.-China relationship for the Financial Times. They discuss some of Demetri's scoops, like the news that Vladimir Putin had requested military aid from Xi Jinping, leaked just before National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's meeting in Switzerland with State Councillor Yang Jiechi and just three weeks after Russia's invasion; and the news that China had tested a hypersonic glide craft in October of last year. But the focus of the discussion is on the Biden administration's China policy and its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework — an Asia strategy that, by all accounts, has met with a tepid response in the region.1:47 – How Demetri landed a beat as U.S.-China relations correspondent5:24 – How the FT scooped the story on Putin's military assistance request to Xi Jinping in March 202212:05 – The Chinese hypersonic glidecraft24:42 – The DC China policy scene: A dramatis personae40:11 – The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework: all guns and no butter52:54 – The Quad and AUKUS: American-led security arrangementsA full transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.comRecommendationsDemetri: Gunpowder, an Irish gin from County Leitrim; and Roku, a Japanese whiskey by SuntoriKaiser: Chokepoint Capitalism, a forthcoming book on how monopolies and monopsonies are ruining culture, by Rebecca Gilbin and Cory DoctorowSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Mark Leonard, founder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations and author most recently of The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict. Mark talks about how despite the bright promise that increasing connectedness — whether in trade, telecommunications, or movements of individuals — would usher in a world of better mutual understanding and enduring peace, the reality is that this connectedness has made the world more fractured and fractious. He explains how the three "empires of connectivity" — the U.S., China, and the EU — each leverage their extensive connectivity to advance their own interests. He also unpacks his assertion that the world is coming to share China's longstanding ambivalence toward connectedness.1:05 – Kaiser tells how researching an abortive book project presaged Mark's conclusion that familiarity can breed contempt7:58 – How Mark came to be a deep ambivalence about connectivity16:03 – The three "empires of connectivity" and how they leverage or weaponize connectivity31:41 – How all the connected empires are taking on "Chinese characteristics"41:41 – How the Russo-Ukrainian War fits into Mark's framework in the book51:49 – Chinese intellectuals and the shift in their thinkingA full transcript of this interview is available on SupChina.com.Recommendations:Mark: Chinese Hegemony: Grand Strategy and International Institutions in East Asian History by Zhang FengKaiser: "A Teacher in China Learns the Limits of Free Expression," the latest piece by Peter Hessler in The New Yorker; and the Israeli spy thriller Tehran on AppleTV.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Deborah Seligsohn returns to the show to talk about the sad state of U.S.-China scientific collaboration. As the Science Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2003 to 2007 — arguably the peak years for collaboration in science — she has ample firsthand experience with the relationship. Debbi, who is now an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University in Philadelphia, sees the U.S. decision to dismantle what was a diverse and fruitful regime of collaboration as a consequence of the basic American conception of the relationship: our tendency to see that relationship as one of teacher and student. She also argues that the American obsession with intellectual property protection is fundamentally misguided and inapplicable to scientific collaboration, which rarely deals with commercial IP.3:15 – The rationale for prioritizing U.S.-China scientific collaboration in the 1970s9:11 – A highlight reel of Sino-American scientific collaboration across four decades31:03 – The stubborn American belief that freedom and democracy are necessary — or even sufficient — conditions for technological innovation39:37 – The price we've paid and will continue to pay for the collapse of collaboration44:00 – The end of collaboration and the DOJ's "China Initiative"48:17 – How to rebuild the U.S.-China scientific partnershipA full transcript of this podcast is available on SupChina.com.Recommendations:Deborah: A Buzzfeed story by Peter Aldous about the strange origins of the "lab-leak theory" in the right-wing of the animal rights activist community; and two podcasts — Bloomberg's Odd Lots podcast and the Brookings podcast by David Dollar, Dollar and Sense.Kaiser: The sci-fi thriller Severance on AppleTV.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined again by Yawei Liu, Senior Director for China at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia; and by Danielle Goldfarb, head of global research at RIWI Corp, an innovative web-based research outfit headquartered in Toronto. They discuss a survey commissioned by the Carter Center to look at Chinese attitudes toward the Russo-Ukrainian War: whether Chinese people believe supporting Russia to be in China's interest, what they believe China's best course of action to be, and whether they're aware of — and if so, whether they believe — disinformation pushed by Moscow about U.S.-run bio labs in Ukraine. Danielle also discusses other survey research that RIWI has conducted about China that relates to the war in Ukraine.2:41 – Why public opinion still matters in authoritarian countries5:35 – Has the debate over the Russian invasion of Ukraine been completely shut down in China?12:17 – RIWI’s technology and survey methodology18:47 – The Carter Center questionnaire and its results28:05 – RIWI’s Military Conflict Risk Index, and the China-Taiwan results35:26 – The puzzling correlation between education level and propensity to believe disinformation42:00 – Popular attitudes about the relationships among Russia, China, and the U.S.A transcript of this podcast is available on SupChina.comRecommendations: Yawei: How China Loses: The Pushback Against Chinese Global Ambitions, by Luke Patey.Danielle: Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez.Kaiser: Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake AdelsteinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser is joined by Manjari Chatterjee Miller, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations and associate professor of political science at Boston University; and Manoj Kewalramani, chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Research Programme and a China studies fellow at the Takshashila Institution, a leading Indian public policy education center. They offer fascinating analysis and insight into the complex relationship between China and India in light of the Russo-Ukrainian War, as powerful and populous Asian nations caught between their commitments to Russia and their well-founded fear of alienating the West. Their predicaments, however, are about all they have in common: despite Chinese overtures, New Delhi and Beijing have too much historical baggage, too many open wounds, and visions for a post-war geopolitical map that are too divergent to allow them to make anything like common cause.3:31 – Indian media positions, political elite takes, and popular opinion on the Russo-Ukrainian War9:05 – Is there a partisan divide in India on the Ukraine War?12:44 – Manoj's amazing potted history of Soviet/Russian relations with India, from 1947 to the eve of the war29:38 – Manjari on how China figures into the Indo-Soviet/Indo-Russian relationship35:33 – China as a factor in Indo-U.S. relations43:17 – China's relative tone-deafness when it comes to India55:56 – Sources of tension in the Russia-India relationshipA full transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.comRecommendations:Manjari: Bridgerton on NetflixManoj: The 1995 Bollywood film Dilwale Dulhania Le JayengeKaiser: The high school comedy Metal Lords on Netflix; and Matt Sheehan, "The Chinese Way Of Innovation: What Washington Can Learn From Beijing About Investing In Tech" in Foreign AffairsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Marina Rudyak, assistant professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Heidelberg. She offers her unique perspective on the underlying tensions and potential conflicts between Russia and China, the "dialogue of the deaf" that was the China-European Union summit on April 1st, Beijing's failure to understand the European perspective on Ukraine, and China's diplomatic and developmental policies in the Global South.4:41 – Marina's personal background and its relevance to our topic6:53 – China and Russia are simpatico in Central Asia? Not so fast.17:14 – Europe, China, and the national security lens22:30 – China's goals with respect to Europe30:32 – What went wrong at the April 1st summit between Beijing and Brussels?41:37 – European and American efforts to counter China's presence in the Global SouthA transcript of this interview is available at SupChina.com.Recommendations: Marina: Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges, by Otto ScharmerKaiser: Robert Draper, "This Was Trump Pulling a Putin," in the New York Times Magazine; Fiona Hill, There Is Nothing For You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-first Century; and Steven Johnson, "AI is Mastering Language. Should We Trust What it Says?" in the New York Times Magazine.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The COVID lockdown in China's biggest city, Shanghai, hasn't been going exactly according to plan. This week on Sinica, we speak with our business editor Chang Che, who flew back to Shanghai in early March and emerged from quarantine just in time for "dynamic clearing." He gives us a first-hand look at the scramble for basic food, and offers his take on China's vaunted state capacity, the role of neighborhood committees in implementing central government policy, what went so badly wrong in Shanghai, and what lessons might be learned for the next Chinese city that sees an Omicron outbreak.2:38 – Chang's experience of the lockdown7:46 – The current mood in Shanghai11:02 – Neighborhood Committees: the foot soldiers of pandemic prediction14:00 – Explaining the relatively low rate of vaccination among the elderly in Shanghai18:47 – The case for locking down Shanghai, and how they might have done it better31:01 – The reputational damage to China33:31 – Schadenfreude41:04 – Why a state that can test 26 million in a day can't keep people fedA transcript of this podcast is available on SupChina.com.Recommendations: Chang: Tokyo Vice on HBO MaxKaiser: The National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VirginiaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.