About Asia

The talks were virtual, but the promises were not just hot air at this week’s climate summit organised by US President Joe Biden. Finbarr Bermingham joins Zhou Xin and John Carter from the SCMP Political Economy team to recap the pledges leaders made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and what seemed like a measure of cooperation between Washington and China. Also this week: the strange story of censorship involving former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s personal article about his mother, the UK…

Taiwan has been in the headlines during a week that a delegation sent by US President Biden visited the self-ruled island, and when Beijing mounted what was seen as an aggressive show of force towards Taipei. This week’s China Geopolitics podcast also looks into the pressure on Japanese PM Suga, how Taiwan company TSMC emerged as top global semiconductor supplier, and why the EU refuses to bail out Montenegro’s massive debt to China for a highway conencting Montenegro's capital with Serbia.

In a week that the US State Department openly flirted with – then pulled back from – the idea of a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, SCMP political economy editors Zhou Xin and John Carter discuss the significance of the Games to China's image-building efforts, the dilemma it would create for potential sponsors and the realpolitik of Washington's mixed messaging. Also in this edition of China Geopolitics: the roles Beijing and Hong Kong might play in US Treasury Secretary Janet…

The fallout from a lightning blitz of sanctions between Western nations and China over alleged abuses in Xinjiang continues. China's stinging official retaliation raises huge questions about its investment deal with Europe, while China's netizen army has risen up against Western brands in response.    H&M, Nike, Hugo Boss, and Adidas and their stances on Xinjiang-made cotton have lead to mass boycotts in China. Political economy editors John Carter and Zhou Xin unpack the political…

Finbarr Bermingham and the SCMP political economy team delve beneath the opening bluster of the US-China meeting in Anchorage and analyse the bigger picture. What of the US opening gambit on Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan? What will the agreement on action to confront climate change mean? Zhou Xin looks at the media coverage in mainland China media framing this as demonstrating China's superpower status; John Carter looks at the upcoming NATO meeting and the significance of the European Union…

Finbarr Bermingham, Zhou Xin and John Carter look at the coming high-level meeting between the US and China in Alaska, and compare what each team of negotiators are looking to get from the occasion, while Biden's calling together of the 'Quad' raises more questions of what India, Japan and Australia have in common. Hear analysis from Beijing-based reporters Mai Jun and Kinling Lo of China's National People's Congress, its announced electoral changes for Hong Kong's electoral system, and how the…

Finbarr Bermingham speaks with SCMP political economy editors Zho Xin and John Carter about the latest Hong Kong crackdown on pro-democracy figures, and delve deep into the latest policy announcements at the National People's Congress in Beijing concerning economic growth and technology. Hear an in-depth interview with Reinhard Butikofer, German politician and chair of the European Union parliamentary delegation to China.

Finbarr Bermingham and political economy editors John Carter and Zhou Xin look at the upcoming announcement of Beijing's five year plan and how it will address the rising middle income trap for China's economic growth. Hear analysis of the Biden administration inquiry into 'supply chains' that didn't mention China and the push by US tech companies back into the mainland now Trump has gone. Special guest is Philippe LeCorre, EU specialist with Harvard University, discussing the EU strategy…

A special ICYMI recap of an interview between Finbarr Bermingham and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, back when she was one of two candidates vying for the position of director general of the World Trade Organization. Hear her talk about her vision for the WTO regarding Covid-19 vaccines, how to repair US-China trade relations and exactly what reforms she thinks are needed for this organisation to be effective.

John Carter unpacks how fresh outbreaks of Covid-19 in mainland China will impact the Chinese economy, as the nation prepares for the Lunar New Year holiday. SCMP China desk edtor Wiliam Zheng analyses Beijing's top diplomat's first policy speech since the Biden inauguration; senior Asia correspondent Bhavan Jaipragas looks at China's relationship with Myanmar, the reaction from Beijing and Washington to the coup and how it contrasts with how the ASEAN nations have reacted.