ChinaTalk

Xi wants China to reach peak emissions by 2030 and go carbon neutral by 2060. Why now? Can he do it? Lauri Myllyvirta comes on to discuss.  RSVP for live Xinjiang discussion at 2:30pm est here. See here for my Xinjiang policy proposal. Google calendar invite to Saturday 5 pm EST zoom phonebanking.  Google calendar invite to Sunday 5 pm EST zoom phonebanking. My email is jorschneider@gmail.com or I...

'Everywhere Yet Nowhere in Particular' is the title of Devin Stewart's latest report. We discuss China's tactics in trying to influence Japanese politics and society as well as what makes Japan uniquely resistant to the CCP's charms. Refer 10 friends to get yourself a ChinaTalk mug! I made a 20-minute megamix of Japanese city pop and trap for you all at the end! If you want the tracklist in the fo...

Refer your friends ChinaTalk! If you get 10 people to sign up using your referral link, you'll get a free ChinaTalk mug! Mara Hvistendahl is a staff writer at The Intercept. In this bitesize edition of ChinaTalk, we discuss pieces of hers on the US Ambassador to China's son and ZTE (The Intercept) and AI voice recognition giant iFlyTek (Wired). Intro and outtro music liner notes available exclusiv...

Why, aside from Yao, have Chinese players had no success in the NBA? Post-NBA, what has Yao done to reform and professionalize the Chinese Basketball Association? One year on, how does the NBA's response to Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey's tweet look in retrospect, and why has the Chinese government responded so differently to NBA and Premier League stars making noise about Xinjiang? Hunter Shi of...

How does the Chinese government's S&T spending differ fundamentally from America's and what does that tell us about the nature of their industrial policy? What is China Standards 2035 and what implications could it have? Will China pull the rare earth card? And is there any chance that America doesn't overcorrect? Emily de La Bruyere of Horizon Advisory joins ChinaTalk to discuss.  Do reach out to...

In his memoir The World as It Is, Ben Rhodes, Barack Obama’s closest national security aide, confides that, on the day Obama left the White House, the worry that haunted him most was: ‘What if we were wrong?’ That is, what if liberals had misinterpreted the nature of the post-Cold War period? ‘What if we were wrong?’ is the question Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes set out to explain in their recen...

It's been a wild few weeks with President Trump threatening to shut WeChat and TikTok out of the U.S. market and rip them out of the app stores. There have been lawsuits, a preliminary injunction—and a sudden deal to purchase TikTok and moot the issue out. To chew it all over, Benjamin Wittes hosted a discussion with Lawfare co-founder Bobby Chesney, a professor at the University of Texas at Austi...

Why would Xi invade and is the Taiwanese military up to the challenge? Paul Huang, freelance journalist, Fletcher School grad and fellow at the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation joins to discuss. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk and/or offering me gainful employment! If you want to get in touch, just email at jorschneider@gmail.com or message me on twitter.  Intro Music: 【青春不留白】莒光園...

Adam Tooze is my favorite economic historian. After writing a handful of books on the 1920s and Nazi economics, he's now turned his eye to the present day, taking on the financial crisis and US-China relations. In this conversation, we get into What we can learn from the diplomatic and economic modes of 1920s and 30s Why Nazi legal theory resonates so well in China today How modes of understanding...

Turning a beloved movie of female empowerment into a dull endorsement of the patriarchy, autocracy and mass forced labor is no easy feat, but Disney Magic is one hell of a drug. Think tanker Rui Zhong and novelist/meme goddess Xiran Jay Zhao join to discuss. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk Intro music: Reflections by Christina Aguilera (Tojou Remix) Outtro music: I'd be impressed if you made...

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...

In 1927, Mao wrote that "In a very short time...several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to hold it back." During the 40s and 50s, he was able to realize this vision to disastrous effect. On this show, Tulane Professor Brian DeMare joins the show to discuss the history and legacy of the...

Tanner Greer of the blog Scholarstage joins the show in a wide-ranging discussion touching on Xi's ideology, incentives in western China-watching, Mormons in China, why it's worth studying classical Chinese history, and AI-assisted writing.  ChinaTalk has hit its 100th episode! That's two and a half full workweeks of informed, respectful, and hopefully entertaining conversation on everything China...

How do you even go about answering that question? Is there a consensus in Washington on how to confront China and does that consensus make any sense? Ali Wyne and Jessica Chen Weiss come on to discuss.  Currently, I make $4/hr from donations adding up all the time it takes to prep, record, and edit the show. This is the 99th episode of ChinaTalk. If you'd like to see the show continue production a...

Lingling Wei and Bob Davis of the WSJ discuss their new book Superpower Showdown. We dive deep into the personal dynamics within the Xi and Trump administrations as well as what the twists and turns over the past few years reveal about the US-China relationship. Please consider supporting ChinaTalk. This show took me 10 hours of reading, 2 hours of script-writing, an hour of recording, and four ho...

Should the US ban TikTok? What role does open source play in the tech ecosystem and the Chinese government's plans for self-reliance? Why does tech occupy such a unique role in the US-China tech cold war? And what can Kanye teach us about foreign policy? Today's guest is Kevin Xu, author of the interconnected newsletter. Click this link to support ChinaTalk.  Intro Music: Kanye's Runaway.  Exit Mu...

Eddie Fishman, who worked in Obama's State Department's Policy Planning Staff, joins to discuss his recent articles on sanctions and the world order.  If you know of any job opportunities (or just wanna say hi!) do reach out. I'm at Jorschneider@gmail.com or @jordanschnyc on twitter. And as always, the newsletter and Patreon!  Intro music: 一丢丢 by AR Outtro music: selection from the 说唱听我的 c...

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 compare with America's gilded age? And why won't anyone give me dinosaur eggs? To discuss, Prof. Yuen Yuen Ang joins the show to...

This week Trump banned valid H1B holders from entering the country. What are the broader implications for America's technological ecosystem and national security? To discuss, Tina Huang and Remco Zwetsloot from CSET talk about their recent research on tech and immigration. We discuss the potential lasting impacts of the, for now, temporary ban, how the US immigration process compares to other nati...

On June 15th, dozens of soldiers died in clashes on the China-India border. What exactly happened up in the Himalayas? What's the historical background? What does this mean for the trajectory of China-India and US-India relations?  We also get into development policy, water rights, and some improv featuring terrible Trump and Modi accents (I didn't even try when doing Xi).  Thanks to Akhil Bery an...

This week’s ChinaTalk featured Antony Dapiran going deep with me on the origin, meaning, and legacy of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. We drew parallels and contrasts throughout between HK and Black Lives Matter. If you'd like to help keep the show going, please consider subscribing to my Patreon.   An excerpt: What continues to be most tragic for Hong Kong is that the government really has demonized...

Evan Osnos is a correspondent for the New Yorker. We discussed his pieces on the protests in DC and coverage of US-China.  See here for video of the MLK speech. Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do you get when you take a Chinese national, a rental car, rural Iowa, and a $52 billion seed business hanging in the balance? Said one review, "not since Alfred Hitchcock's in North by Northwest has a cornfield produced so much excitement." Mara Hvistendahl's recent book, "The Scientist and the Spy," delivers a compelling narrative diving deep into the nature of Chinese industrial espionage...

Who's spending big? Does it matter? Zach Arnold and Ashwin Acharya join the show to discuss their reports on Chinese public sector AI R&D spending and strengthening America's AI workforce. Do note this episode was recorded in late February.  Exit music Tricky Tricky by NINEONE / CREAM D / Yoken_Official / YYKBZ / WR/OC Patreon here.  Get bonus content on Patreon See acast.com/privacy for privacy a...

Dan Grover joins the show to discuss his recent piece on how Chinese tech firms have handled coronavirus, I read from a recent ChinaTalk newsletter on how some mainland commentators fear that QR Health Codes will create a 'digital leviathan,' and Ravish Bhatia of the Use Case podcast shares his coronastory from India. Please consider donating to ChinaTalk's patreon.  Get bonus content on Patreon S...