Sharp China Podcast

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com Show notes: On today's show Andrew and Bill look back at a week of news from San Francisco. Topics include: A "tactical stabilization" in the US-China relationship, world leaders comparing cars, concessions from the US and a PRC commitment on fentanyl, whether China would prefer Biden or Trump in 2024, and what else was ach...

Show notes: After one year of Sharp Tech and Sharp China, a summit with Ben Thompson, Bill Bishop and Andrew Sharp to discuss podcasting, the chip ban, the US-China relationship and beyond. To read the full transcript, click here . We recorded this podcast the afternoon of the Xi-Biden meeting on November 15. Andrew and I will record a separate podcast early next week in which we will discuss that...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with Xi Jinping’s trip to San Francisco and a likely meeting with President Biden next week. Topics include: A planned dinner with business leaders, why the PRC hasn’t yet confirmed the trip, modest goals for both sides, more ambitious concessions China and the US may seek. From there:...

This episode of Sharp China is free for everyone. Show notes: On today’s show Bill and Andrew begin with the passing of Li Keqiang, the grief that swept China over the weekend, and the various party protocols that were set in motion to control the mourning process this week. From there: Another Politburo meeting comes and goes with no news about a third plenum to devise new economic policy, the mo...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com Show notes: On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the latest confrontation between the PRC and the Philippines in the South China Sea, clarity as to PRC maritime tactics that look increasingly like an undeclared blockade, and questions about when and how the US might get involved. From there: Qin Gang and Li Shangfu ar...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com Show notes: On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the long-awaited updates to the Biden Administration’s export controls on chips. Topics include: Bad news for Nvidia and good news for PRC semi companies, initial responses from PRC leadership, and follow-up thoughts on the strategic calculus of the U.S. From there: Imp...

This episode of Sharp China is free for everyone. Show notes: On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with a meeting between Xi Jinping and a congressional delegation led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the latest indication that Xi and the PRC are working toward a trip to APEC in November and a likely meeting with President Biden. From there: Reports of updates to the semiconductor export...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com Show notes: On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with a correction to last week’s episode and the latest bizarre twist in the Qin Gang saga. Then: A closer look at the recent clashes between the PLA and the Philippines in the South China Sea, this week’s news at the Scarborough Shoal, the Filipino media strategy under Pres...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com Show notes: On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with this week's Wall Street Journal reporting on Foreign Minister Qin Gang. As sources in Beijing relay allegations of an affair and a lovechild eligible for a US passport, plenty of questions remain. How could those details have gone undetected before Xi departed from prot...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with Xi Jinping's visit to Heilongjiang during the G-20 Summit, President Biden's comments on containment and the likelihood of a Taiwan invasion, and why news that Wang Yi will skip the UN General Assembly next week does not necessarily tell us anything about Xi's plans for APEC in Nov...

Show notes: On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the news that Xi Jinping will skip this weekend’s G-20 summit in India, a Ministry of State Security warning that the United States has work to do before any Biden-Xi summit later this year, and the ongoing questions surrounding the recent MSS foray into social media and US-China directives. Then: The international media learns more about Huaw...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the release of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear power facility and the response from PRC authorities, media and consumers. With a ban of an imports of all aquatic products from Japan and additional boycotts proliferating, what measures might be next? And with the IAEA and m...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com Show notes: On today's show Bill and Andrew begin with an unexplained absence for Xi Jinping in Johannesburg before turning to the multi-faceted problems facing Beijing policymakers as the PRC economy continues to sputter. Topics include: Why a giant stimulus package remains unlikely, whether Xi is the right leader to manag...

Click here for instructions to add the podcast to your preferred player. This episode of Sharp China is free for everyone. If you are not a full subscriber and would like have access to all podcast episodes as well as every issue of Sinocism please click this button: Show notes: On today's Andrew and Bill begin with the heaviest rainfall in at least 140 years in Beijing this week. Topics include:...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with a hastily called National People's Congress Standing Committee meeting, Wang Yi's return to his former role as Foreign Minister, and the removal of Qin Gang. Topics include: The messy procedure that led to this week's removal, possible explanations for Qin retaining his role as sta...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with the mystery surrounding foreign minister Qin Gang, who has not been seen in public since June 25th. As the foreign ministry stays silent, what might explain his retreat from public view, and how does this situation reflect on Xi Jinping and the party? Then: Henry Kissinger makes a...

This week’s episode is outside the paywall so available to everyone. On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with reactions to Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen's trip to China, including thoughts on what might be the next evolution in the decoupling discourse, various social media controversies that were unrelated to the substance of her meetings, and the optics of cabinet officials traveling...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with recent comments from President Biden that provided a surprise postscript to last week’s episode about renewed US-China engagement. Then: What the PRC might be thinking after a weekend of uncertainty in Russia, and using Putin’s struggles as an object lesson in why Xi has been so ag...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today's show Andrew and Bill talk through Secretary of State Anthony Blinken's trip to Beijing. First: The voices that convinced Biden to push for an improved relationship, what “back to Bali” actually entails, and reactions to the meetings between Blinken and PRC counterparts Qin Gang and Wang Yi. From there: The Biden...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with the latest on Secretary Blinken's visit to Beijing before turning to a recap of several reports on PRC surveillance activities in Cuba and the evolving responses they've elicited from the Biden Administration. From there: What Xi might be signaling with his calls to prepare for “ex...

On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with reports that Secretary of State Anthony Blinken may visit China sometime "in the coming weeks." Topics include: The State Department's preliminary trip this past weekend, benefits of continued communication, risks of communication as a reward in itself, and why it's important that Blinken visit before others in the cabinet. Then: The Shangri-La Dialogue a...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the rejected pitch from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to meet with Defense Minister Li Shangfu this weekend. Topics include: The importance (and limits) of maintaining ongoing military backchannels, why the U.S. push for a meeting was more complicated in this case, and a postsc...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with the strong messaging that emerged from the G-7 summit in Hiroshima and the foreign ministry‘s response, including thoughts on the ongoing trend toward bifurcation and the cycle of name-calling that pervades the relationship between the US and China. Then: a listener asks about the...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit sinocism.com On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with reactions to the meeting between Qin Gang and US Ambassador Nicholas Burns, the case for sending Anthony Blinken to Beijing before John Kerry, and a few questions as both sides pine for a reset to the status quo at last fall’s G20 Summit. Then: More information on the Capvision rai...

On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with news of more raids on Western corporate intelligence firms, investors losing access to Wind Information Co., a reported uptick in foreigners facing exit bans, and the continuing conflict between business-friendly rhetoric and what Xi's security services are doing on the ground. Then: Capital flight to Singapore, various theories to explain the timing of X...