ChinaTalk

On Aug 9th Biden signed the Chips + Science Act into law. What’s it gunna do for science? Joining us today is  Tim Clancy, founder of Arch Street consulting and former COngressional staffer and NSF official. Toby Smith, Senior VP for Science Policy at the Association of American Universites Cohosting with me is Jacob Feldgoise, Who recently wrote a column on the Act on the CHINATALK NEWSLETTER WHI...

I HAVE A NEWSLETTER! Subscribe to it at https://www.chinatalk.media/ A few weeks back, Congress actually did something, passing the Chips and Science Act. Most of you have probably heard of the billions going toward subsidizing domestic manufacturing, but a far less-heralded part of the bill may end up matting more in the long run. The Act created the ‘National Semiconductor Technology Center.’ Wh...

I HAVE A NEWSLETTER! Subscribe to it at https://www.chinatalk.media/ To discuss, Eric Breckenfeld of the Semiconductor Industry Association and Hassan Khan, who holds a PhD in engineering and public policy, Outtro Music: Leo王 - 陪妳過假日 feat. 9m88 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS89Vb07C-U Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This year marks ten years since Wang Lijun's fateful flight to the US Embassy in Chengdu, a decision which set in motion a chain of events that ultimately brought down one of China's most powerful politicians, Xi's most credible rival for power in 2012, Bo Xilai. The former mayor of Chongqing remains in prison to this day for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of office, along with his wife Gu Kailai...

I HAVE A NEWSLETTER! Check it out! Joseph Torigian’s “Prestige, Manipulation and Coercion, Elite Power Struggles in The Soviet Union and China After Stalin and Mao” is in pole position for my best China book of 2022. Books that deeply engage with both Soviet and CCP primary sources around elite politics basically never come out nowadays. I for one am deeply grateful that Joe, one of the few folks...

When Churchill announced in 1946 that an iron curtain had descended over Europe, the US government only employed two dozen experts on the Soviet Union. Two years later, with the cold war well underway, the CIA only had 12 Russian speakers. Over the following decades, philanthropists and the US government started an intellectual mobilization that had profound effects on the course of the cold war....

In light of Abe's assassination, I thought it would be worthwhile to reflect on the man and his legacy. Last year I recorded an episode discussing Abe Shinzo, second only to Xi as the most consequential East Asian politician of the 21st century. Tobias Harris of the Center for American Progress joined to discuss his new biography of Abe, The Iconoclast. Tobias and I discussed His dramatic rise, fa...

I'm off getting married/honeymooning for the next couple of weeks so in my absence please enjoy this fine ChinaTalk vintage. How can China be so corrupt and yet grow so fast? What's the relationship between corruption and competent governance? How does 'access money' at the higher levels differ from the "profit-sharing" you see lower down in the bureaucracy? How does China in the 21st century comp...

Mister Softee, the famed northeastern American ice cream brand, in Suzhou, China? Yes, that was a thing. Turner Sparks, rising from humble beginnings as just another English teacher making his way in the world, achieved fame and fortune thanks to a catchy jingle and some tasty mango-flavored soft serve. Yet his vision of China-wide ice cream domination dissolved amid a deluge of backstabbing regul...

From then-PM David Cameron knocking back pints with Xi at the local pub to the Chinese ambassador being banned from Parliament: how has China's relationship with the UK changed since the so-called Golden Era? This week we have on Sam Hogg (@BeijingToBrit), the recently unmasked writer behind the Substack Beijing to Britain. Co-hosted by ChinaTalk's editor and crypto journalist Callan Quinn (@Quinn...

Where should US-China tech relations go? What should “Competitive when it should be. Collaborative when it can be. Adversarial when it must be” actually mean in practice? To discuss, on this episode we have John Bateman, a newly minted senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and my Rhodium colleague Charlie Vest as co-host. We get into - Analyzing the China tech threat and...

The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act will come into force in the US on June, 21, 2022. On this episode, John Foote, a partner and the head of the customs practice at Kelley Drye & Warren, discusses the ins and out of what it will mean for companies importing to the US. We also get into: - The legal history of preventing goods produced by forced labor from being imported to the US. - How companie...

China is now the largest market for movies globally, and there have long been whispers about exactly how this impacts Hollywood decisions when it comes to scripts and casting. This episode I’m joined by Erich Schwartzel, author of Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy, for a deep dive into the world of Chinese cinema, Chinese movies abroad and China in Hollywoo...

Hal Brands (@HalBrands), professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, is the author of The Twilight Struggle: What the Cold War Teaches Us about Great-Power Rivalry Today. Along with co-host Emily Jin @ew_jin) of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), we discuss: How the US capitalized on Soviet heavy-handedness in the developing world How technology...

How did Chinese painting, arguably the elitist of arts, fare during the Cultural Revolution? To discuss ink paintings, socialist realism, oil paintings and the political upheavals that formed their backdrop, I’m joined by artist Arnold Chang and Curator of Chinese Paintings at the MET in NY, Joe Scheier-Dawlberg. We discuss: Whether chaotic periods produce the best art The role of escapism in the...

Standards. Who has them? From shipping containers to screws to tech gadgets, how is it that something made in China can have certain attributes identical to another product made by another company half a world away? And why does it matter? MIT professor and business history JoAnne Yates and Wellesley professor of political science Craig Murphy are the authors of Engineering Rules: Global Standard...

In 1991, a young Chinese academic published America against America, a look at the contradictions and paradoxes he observed while traveling there. His book was largely forgotten until last year when it went viral for its observations on US cultural decline, becoming a hot topic on Chinese-language forums.   It was no less fascinating for who its author was. Wang Huning is today one of the top lead...

Is a nuclear arms race inevitable? China has been building up its nuclear arsenal over the past few years. While it remains significantly smaller than the US and Russia’s, what does this mean for geopolitics against the backdrop of US-China tensions and the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Tong Zhao (@zhaot2005) is a fellow at the Carnegie Center in Beijing who focuses on China’s nuclear program. Co-h...

CSIS' Bonny Lin joins to discuss how Beijing is responding to the war in Ukraine, potential future paths for Chinese policy, whether the IC could pull the same intelligence coups in Beijing as they did in Moscow, how the PLA may adapt to lessons from in theater, and what Biden should do if Putin drops a tactical nuclear weapon. This show was recorded on March 31st. Bonny's testimony on Beijing and...

Taipei-based DJ and New Bloom editor Brian Hioe (@brianhioe) takes us on a tour of the local indie music scene and explains what some of last year’s top tunes can tell us about Taiwanese politics and culture, from the influence of indigenous communities to attitudes towards China. We also discuss Earning a living making music in Taiwan v China Brian’s twitter fights with tankie rappers Taiwan’s in...

In the 2010s, US Navy officers took cash, prostitutes and more from a Malaysian defense contractor known as Fat Leonard. To tell a story that bears more than a hint of resemblance to the Jho Low 1MDB scandal, award-winning journalist Tom Wright (@tomwrightasia) joins me to discuss Fat Leonard’s relationship with the military and how it all came crashing down. Tom is the host of the podcast series...

Will Germany’s policy changes towards Russia have a knock-on effect on its attitude towards China? To get the view from Germany, I’m joined by Berlin-based Noah Barkin (@noahbarkin), the managing editor of Rhodium Group’s China practice. We discuss Whether Europe is pushing China to exercise its influence over Russia How Ukraine has changed Germany’s attitude towards the military Why the Polish pr...

Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova, Head of Riga Stradins University China Studies Centre, Head of the Asia program at the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, and a member of the European Think tank Network on China, joins to discuss. Outtro music: Stefania (Kalush Orchestra) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nRQWc4YKGU Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-ou...

Matej Šimalčík, Executive Director of the Central European Institute of Asian Studies, joins from Bratislava to discuss: The reception of BRI in Eastern and Central Europe 10 years on How the war will accelerate changes in opinion towards China Jordan and Matej reminiscing about Pohoda, the greatest music festival on the planet (my writeup from 2015 https://medium.com/@jordanschneider/pohoda-the-w...

Adam Tooze and Matt Klein return to ChinaTalk to discuss the war in Ukraine. We get into Why Adam is as scared as he's ever been What caused the EU to rally together 'NATO for Trade' for sanctions What this means for Taiwan Recorded on Sunday Feb 27th at 4pm est. Please consider making a donation to https://www.globalgiving.org/projects/ukraine-crisis-relief-fund/faq/#menu Outtro Music: As Chumaks...