This week, we bring you another show from the California podcast series that Kaiser recorded back in December, before the ravages of COVID-19. Take a break from thinking about the virus to listen to Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia, talk about why China requires a very different foreign policy approach than Russia. 4:31: Ideology and remnants of the Cold War 13:57: Promoting democratic values in Russia 22:22: Public diplomacy work in the 21st century 38:47: What to make of Chin...
Apr 02, 2020•51 min
On this week's show, veteran reporter Dexter "Tiff" Roberts chats with Kaiser and Jeremy about his new book, The Myth of Chinese Capitalism: The Worker, the Factory, and the Future of the World . 6:28: What is the myth of Chinese capitalism? 20:17: Chinese migrant workers and their children 35:54: Labor conditions in China 40:28: Strikes, the CCP, and labor union overhaul 45:48: Taobao villages and the transformation of the Chinese countryside Recommendations: Jeremy: Videos for children in Chin...
Mar 26, 2020•1 hr 11 min
This week on Sinica, Kaiser continues his California series with a conversation with Janet Yang, one of the legends of the U.S.-China film world, and Michael Berry, a professor at UCLA and a leading expert on Chinese cinema. They discuss how politics and other factors have taken the shine off the initial promise of U.S.-China film collaboration, but how some bright spots remain. This episode is part of the California series of podcasts, made possible by the Serica Initiative. 6:07: The Golden Ho...
Mar 19, 2020•52 min
In a show taped live at the China-U.S. Summit at Duke University on February 29, Kaiser chats with Ambassador Craig Allen, the longtime Asia-based diplomat who now serves as president of the U.S.-China Business Council. Topics include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on U.S. businesses with China exposure, the major issues plaguing American companies, the phase one trade deal inked in January, and more. 6:18: COVID-19 and decoupling 12:11: The role of business communities in the U.S.-China re...
Mar 12, 2020•48 min
In this episode, part of Sinica's California series, Kaiser chats with Alex Wang, a professor of law at UCLA and an expert on China's environmental law. Just back from the COP25 meeting in Madrid, Alex provides an informed and dispassionate assessment of China’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 8:26: China and the EU on climate change 21:42: Is coal making a resurgence in China? 26:22: The carbon impact of the Belt and Road Initiative 30:15: How California collaborates with China on c...
Mar 05, 2020•48 min
From the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 that ended the Qing dynasty to the Second Sino-Japanese War to Tiananmen in 1989 and Hong Kong 30 years later, songs have inspired and united people in protest and political movements in China. In this episode, Kaiser chats with Jeff Wasserstrom of the University of California, Irvine, about the anthems that have animated activism, and about Jeff’s new book, Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink . The episode is part of the Serica Initiative’s series of California-base...
Feb 27, 2020•59 min
In a live show taped at the Asia Society, in partnership with ChinaFile, Kaiser sat down to chat with prolific author Mara Hvistendahl at the launch event of her latest book, The Scientist and the Spy: A True Story of China, the FBI, and Industrial Espionage . Written in the style of a thriller, this page-turner is well researched, admirably balanced, and incredibly timely. 12:49: Accusations against the scientists featured in the book 21:54: Instances of racial profiling against Chinese scienti...
Feb 20, 2020•49 min
This week, we feature an episode from the newest member of our Sinica Podcast Network: the China in Africa Podcast, hosted by Eric Olander and Cobus van Staden. The United States sees Africa as a key arena to confront China's rising influence in the developing world. With its $60 billion International Development Finance Corporation and its Prosper Africa policy framework unveiled last year, the Trump administration is working hard to present African governments with an alternative development m...
Feb 13, 2020•41 min
Kaiser and Jeremy chat with Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he directs the Global Health Governance roundtable series. In addition to his role at CFR, Yanzhong is also a professor at Seton Hall University’s School of Diplomacy and International Relations, making him an ideal guest to talk about a pathogen with major domestic and international political implications. Recommendations: Jeremy: Three pieces from SupChina: Kenyan studen...
Feb 07, 2020•46 min
With the United States now in a presidential election year, how should an incoming administration — whether a Democratic presidency or a second Trump administration — approach China policy? This week, Kaiser chats with eminent scholars Susan Shirk and Barry Naughton of the University of California, San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy, and asks them how they would advise the future occupant of the Oval Office. This episode is part of the California series, produced with the assistanc...
Feb 06, 2020•1 hr 1 min
In the aftermath of the targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani in early January, Kaiser talked to Jeff Prescott, a veteran China-watcher who now serves as a senior advisor to the Penn Biden Center. Jeff previously served as Special Assistant to President Obama, Senior Director for Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf States on the National Security Council, and Deputy National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden. This show was taped live at the inaugural U.S.-China Series conference in Seattle, Was...
Jan 30, 2020•39 min
Maggie Lewis, a law professor at Seton Hall University, discusses the recent presidential election in Taiwan, where she and other Chinese and Taiwanese legal scholars took part as independent observers. Maggie and Kaiser also discuss domestic Taiwanese politics, the impact of demographic and social trends within the context of the election, and cross-Strait relations in 2020. 4:49: Political posturing toward the P.R.C. 14:51: How the Hong Kong protests affected the election in Taiwan 24:48: Chin...
Jan 23, 2020•46 min
This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Professor Tai Ming Cheung of the University of California, San Diego. Tai is the director of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) and also a leading expert on Chinese national security and defense modernization. This episode is part of a nine-part series taped in California in December 2019, made possible by the Serica Initiative, SupChina's nonprofit arm. 5:30: What the international security environment looks like to Xi Jinping 14:47...
Jan 16, 2020•49 min
On this week’s show, Kaiser chats with Alejandro Reyes, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong and a former senior policy adviser to Canada’s assistant deputy minister for Asia Pacific, about the ongoing Hong Kong protests and the spread of violence to some of Hong Kong’s best-known universities in November. Alejandro offers his take on this phase of the protests, and on how half a year of incessant protests has impacted the mental health of young Hongkongers. Recommendations: Ale...
Jan 09, 2020•1 hr 11 min
In a show taped in Seattle, Kaiser chats with Gary Rieschel, founding managing partner of Qiming Venture Partners. With 30 unicorns and over 30 exits, Qiming has been one of the most successful VCs in China, investing in numerous companies that have gone on to become household names in the country. Gary reflects on his years in China and the folly of decoupling. Recommendations: Gary: Atlas Shrugged , by Ayn Rand, and Factfulness , by Hans Rosling. Kaiser: Watchmen , the new show on HBO created ...
Jan 02, 2020•1 hr 1 min
Gary Locke served as the U.S. ambassador to China from 2011 to 2014. Locke was not only the first Chinese-American ambassador to China, but also the first Chinese-American state governor and secretary of commerce. This week on Sinica, he joins Kaiser in a show taped in Seattle, Washington, to talk about his early visits to his ancestral village in China's Guangdong Province, the attempted defection of Chongqing police chief and erstwhile Bó Xīlái 薄熙来 underling Wáng Lìjūn 王立军 to the U.S. consulat...
Dec 19, 2019•1 hr 17 min
In a show taped in front of a live audience at SupChina’s NEXT China conference, Kaiser and Jeremy chatted with particle physicist Yangyang Cheng, one of the boldest new voices writing on science and contemporary China. Get to know the woman behind SupChina’s Science and China column. 2:38: A day in the life of a particle physicist 8:26: Scientific research and the state 15:15: The overlap between politics and science 24:28: Is technocracy problematic? Recommendations: Jeremy: A new podcast call...
Dec 12, 2019•35 min
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, who covers China for Axios, was the lead reporter on an explosive leak of documents detailing the ongoing repression of Uyghurs and other Muslims in China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region. This week, she joins Kaiser and Jeremy to discuss her report, titled Exposed: China’s Operating Manuals for Mass Internment and Arrest by Algorithm. The leaks include what she describes as a "manual for operating the camps," and reveal how Chinese police are using big data to identify ind...
Dec 05, 2019•49 min
Sinica brings you a little levity for this Thanksgiving weekend: In one of the last live events taped at the storied Bookworm in Beijing, which shut its doors this month, the Royal Asiatic Society of Beijing sponsored a debate over a simple proposition: The Ming was better than the Qing. Four seasoned China-watchers battle it out for dynastic supremacy. Who will prevail? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info...
Nov 29, 2019•1 hr 28 min
In a podcast taped live for the Asia Society of Switzerland in Zurich, Kaiser is joined by Kristin Shi-Kupfer, director of the Research Area on Public Policy and Society at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) in Berlin, and Evgeny Morozov, contributing editor at the New Republic and author of The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom and To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism . They discuss the shifting narratives about the relationship bet...
Nov 22, 2019•1 hr 15 min
Fuchsia Dunlop, the preeminent writer on Chinese cuisine in the English language, has published a completely revised and updated version of Land of Plenty , her classic book on Sichuan cookery, containing 70 new recipes. Her newest book is titled The Food of Sichuan . She joins Kaiser and guest host Jim Millward of Georgetown University in a discussion of this wildly popular cuisine — and how to get started as a Sichuan chef in your own kitchen. 12:18: Are there eight regional cuisines in China?...
Nov 14, 2019•1 hr 9 min
This week on Sinica, Kaiser talks about the state of charitable giving in China with Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Has philanthropy kept pace with the growth of wealth? And how have charities fared under Xi Jinping and China’s new laws governing NGOs and charity? 6:36: How has charity fared under Xi Jinping? 13:04: Party apprehensions about philanthropic giving 20:18: Red lines for f...
Nov 07, 2019•49 min
In this live show taped at New York University on October 16, Jeremy and Kaiser spoke with Jerry Cohen, the doyen of American studies of Chinese law. We explore the legal foundations for the Hong Kong handover in 1997, and how imprecision has contributed to many of the difficulties playing out in Hong Kong's streets today. 5:43: Ambiguity in Hong Kong Basic Law 19:38: A look at the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill 32:35: Changing repercussions for detained and imprisoned Hongkongers 37:59: Hong K...
Oct 31, 2019•1 hr 14 min
This week on Sinica, Neil Thomas of MacroPolo sits down with Kaiser to talk about what we know — and what we don’t know — about popular support for the Chinese political leadership. Taking into account the effects of censorship and propaganda, how much “natural” regime support is left, and what explains it? 8:51: How reliable are public opinion surveys of regime support? 19:53: Ian Johnson’s NYT op-ed on the October 1 parade 22:20: The Party and the People 38:18: Anniversaries and “dark annivers...
Oct 24, 2019•53 min
Samm Sacks, a Cybersecurity Policy and China Digital Economy Fellow at New America, speaks with Kaiser on Huawei’s nebulous role in the U.S.-China trade war, Beijing’s long march to technological self-reliance, and the growing U.S. Commerce Department Entity List. This episode was recorded live at the Columbia China and the World Forum 2019, on September 28, 2019, at Columbia University. 4:12: Trading Huawei for soybeans 11:24: The growing Entity List 22:16: Beijing’s retaliation 25:09: Silicon ...
Oct 17, 2019•37 min
Jude Blanchette, the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), joins Kaiser for a discussion of the ongoing Hong Kong protests, possible U.S. responses, Beijing's puzzling inaction, the perspectives of mainland Chinese, and media coverage of ongoing events in Hong Kong. 4:52: Hong Kong’s young democratic leaders 15:39: The volatility of the Hong Kong protests 27:10: Mainland sentiments on Hong Kong 38:21: Media coverage of the protests 46:04: Sp...
Oct 10, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Episode 53 of TechBuzz China is about NetEase. Listen to learn about the company’s founder, William Ding, and how he built a $33 billion empire based on a unique business style as well as on his belief that a company doesn’t need a direction or specific labels. Today, NetEase’s offerings range from email to publishing and developing games, and from breeding pigs to educating people. This episode originally aired on October 4, 2019. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California P...
Oct 09, 2019•34 min
SupChina is celebrating Golden Week with a few of our best episodes from the Sinica Podcast Network. For today’s selection, enjoy this interview with Peter Hessler on ChinaEconTalk, along with host Jordan Schneider. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Oct 08, 2019•1 hr 18 min
SupChina is celebrating Golden Week with a few of our best episodes from the Sinica Podcast Network. Today, please enjoy episode 22 of Ta for Ta, hosted by Juliana Batista. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Oct 07, 2019•1 hr
SupChina is celebrating Golden Week with a few of our best episodes from the Sinica Podcast Network. Today, please enjoy episode 16 of the Middle Earth Podcast, hosted by Aladin Farré. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
Oct 04, 2019•1 hr
