Sinica Podcast

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes back Jeremy Daum, senior research scholar in law and senior fellow at the Paul Tsai China Law Center. Jeremy has a well-deserved reputation as a debunker of myths and misperceptions about China. This time, he takes on the much-discussed “overseas police stations,” and examines how they are — and aren’t — related to China’s transnational repression.01:03 – The overview of the investigation on Chinese overseas police stations06:19 – The disparity between the press release and the actual charges against the investigated Chinese individuals08:48 – The functions of so-called Chinese secret police stations in the U.S.11:10 – What was wrong with the report written by Safeguard Defenders?16:57 – What is being national in the aforementioned policies?19:22 – Evidence of a link between physical presence with transnational repression or repatriation of criminals26:29 – Is the media narrative regarding popular myths about China slowly changing?30:22 – Other governments’ views on and actions towards Chinese police stations31:38 – Tactics used on the return of alleged criminals to China34:11 – An update on the topic of draft regulations on Generative AIA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Jeremy: I’m a Virgo, a television show on Amazon Prime.Kaiser: A perfect family dinner for the summer: An easy recipe for spicy salmon/tunaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, UPenn legal scholar Neysun Mahboubi talks about his recently-concluded trip back to China — his first time back since the outbreak of the pandemic. Neysun talks about the importance of in-person, face-to-face scholarly exchange, and despite concerns over the more restrictive political space in China, sounds a hopeful note about what the restoration of in-person exchange might mean for the future of U.S.-China relations.05:02 – Neysun Mahboubi’s YouTube-based initiatives on the U.S.-China relations10:15 – The changes in Beijing in recent years13:49 – The recently observed growing reticence of Chinese people to speak up, and the third-rail topics16:50 – The effect of Chinese administrative handling of the pandemic on people’s trust25:01 – What is the view of Chinese liberal intellectuals on the role of the U.S. in the worsening U.S.-China relations?28:29 – Have the Biden administration’s recent efforts to thaw the U.S.-China relations been well received by the Chinese side?32:48 – The future of scholarly exchanges from China and the U.S. in light of the pandemic and escalating political tensions40:13 – The Ukraine War from the perspective of Chinese intellectualsA complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Neysun: To Live, directed by Zhang YimouKaiser: The Status Kuo, an American politics substack by Jay KuoMentioned: To Live: A Novel by Yu Hua (translated by Michael Berry)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Elsa Kania, a Ph.D. candidate in Harvard University's Department of Government and adjunct fellow at the Center for a New American Security who researches China's military strategy, defense innovation, and emerging technologies. Elsa joins the show to discuss China’s push for Military-Civil Fusion, debunking some of the myths about the program that U.S. pundits and policymakers have imbibed.03:54 – Did the concept of Military-Civil Fusion start with the leadership of Xi Jinping?06:48 What were the barriers to MCF’s successful implementation before Xi’s leadership?09:50 – The comparison between attempts and successes of MCF in China and the U.S.15:39 – Areas of focus of China’s MCF. Which areas offer the most significant possibility for success?20:17 – A look at the perceived legal obligation of Chinese companies to participate in MCF24:59 – The collaboration between Chinese and American researchers in light of MCF31:00 – The awareness of Chinese policy-makers of the sensitivities associated with MCF by other nations34:56 – Does MCF have the same place of prominence in the Biden administration that it did in the Trump’ administration?37:20 – How should we approach the policy of MCF?42:27 – Is the U.S. trying to “out-China” China?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Elsa: Translation State by Ann LeckieKaiser: A recipe for making homemade nuomi cha / genmai cha — green tea with roasted glutinous riceSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With Secretary of State Antony Blinken's two days of meetings in Beijing just concluded, Kaiser spoke with Dennis Wilder, managing director for the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, where he also serves as an assistant professor of practice in Asian Studies in the School of Foreign Service. Dennis was the National Security Council's director for China from 2004-2005, and then served as the NSC special assistant to the president and senior director for East Asian affairs from 2005 to 2009. From 2009 to 2015 Dennis served as the senior editor of the President’s Daily Brief, the worldwide intelligence update produced under the auspices of the director of national intelligence. He also served from 2015 to 2016 as the CIA’s deputy assistant director for East Asia and the Pacific. Who better to give an informed take on Secretary Blinken's diplomatic mission?Today is a public U.S. holiday so we'll get the transcript and podcast page with show notes up later in the week. Look for it on the TheChinaProject.com website.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Keyu Jin, associate professor of economics at LSE, who talks about her new book, The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism, a wide-ranging, ambitious, and accessible book that explains the unique Chinese political economy, emphasizing both its successes to date and how it must change to meet the challenges to come.01:01 – An overview of the book The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism by Keyu Jin09:22 – Is the criticism about being pro-China justified?14:25 – The element of culture in the Chinese economy27:56 – What is the mayor economy and what are its pros and cons?38:00 – The power of the Chinese state to affect changes in the macroeconomy42:52 – The modern state-owned enterprise and its purpose47:39 – China’s financial system – the disparity between China’s GDP growth and its abyssmal stock market52:07 – The current situation with the real estate market: Is the bubble going to pop?1:02:03 – Pros and cons of the growth of the shadow banking sector in China1:06:32 – The position of China in the global trading system1:13:52 – How does China respond to technology restrictions in key areas such as semiconductor manufacturing?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Keyu: When the Facts Change: Essays, 1995-2010 by Tony JudtKaiser: 1776 (Musical)Mentioned:The New China Playbook: Beyond Socialism and Capitalism by Keyu JinSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with David Ownby, the University of Montreal historian who runs the excellent ReadingTheChinaDream.com website — a trove of translations of writings by mainstream Chinese intellectuals. David talks about the website’s mission and about tells about his recent three-week trip to Beijing and Shanghai, in which he met with many of the people he translates on his site. Many of them are profoundly disillusioned with the leadership’s handling of the end of Zero-COVID, he found.03:38 – Genesis of the project Reading the Chinese Dream09:32 – The choice of intellectuals being translated14:11 – An overview of common ideological denominators for the New Confucians, the Liberals, and the New Left.24:19 – The emerging groups as a direct response to certain phenomena happening in the West25:58 – How did we fail to understand the intellectual life in China?30:30 – An overview of David’s recent trip to China35:12 – How does the post-COVID reality in China affect Chinese intellectuals?45:34 – Are we observing a turning point in the intellectual community and its relationship with the Chinese government?47:41 – The attitudes of Chinese intellectuals towards the U.S.56:04 – Will the negativity currently observed among Chinese intellectuals a temporary or enduring issue?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:David: Ties by Domenico Starnone, translated by Jhumpa LahiriKaiser: The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter H. WilsonMentioned:Translating Myself and Others by Jhumpa LahiriSimplicissimus by Johann GrimmelshausenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

With the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue kicking off in Singapore on Friday, June 2, Kaiser chats with the organizer’s managing director for Asia, James Crabtree, about the history, structure, and significance of this Asian answer to the Munich Security Conference, James, who joined the Institute for International Strategic Studies in 2018, offers a great sneak-peek and a curtain raiser on the three-day event, which will bring ministers and secretaries of defense together from all over the region and beyond.05:54 – What are the differences between the Munich Security Conference and the Shangri-La Dialogue?10:21 – Notable past Shangri-La Dialogues14:42 – Who are the guests of this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue?19:53 – The programming of the Shangri-La Dialogue26:48 – The Chinese participation in the event and the background of China-US and Sino-Japanese relations34:16 – European delegations in recent years attending the event and the challenges they face37:42 – The connotation of Indo-Pacific as opposed to the Asia-Pacific41:17 – The dynamics on the axis China-India-US and a multipolar vision for Southeast Asia52:33 – The current intentions for the bilateral relationship between the United States and China?A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:James: The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark; and The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life by John le CarréKaiser:  A Perfect Spy: A Novel by John le Carré Mentioned:The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age by James CrabtreeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Harvard’s eminent sinologist William Kirby joins Kaiser to talk about his book Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China, and to share his views on the state of higher education in China and the U.S，03:12 – Wissenschaft and the German contribution to the creation of the modern research university06:30 – The decreasing number of Chinese students willing to study in the U.S. and the defunding of American public universities12:17 – What is the current state of higher education in China?18:19 – Continuities between the old imperial civil service examination system and the current higher education system in China23:08 – The state of Chinese universities before the Cultural Revolution29:23 – How China revived higher education on the model of American universities in the early years of Reform and Opening33:00 – Why does China maintain the gaokao examination despite its great unpopularity?41:38 – Differences between the two leading universities in China: Peking University and Tsinghua University44:00 – Institutional entrepreneurship at Tsinghua University50:01 – The origins of Nanjing University and how it evolved over the years57:21 – The importance of governance and management in the example of the University of Hong Kong1:05:23 – What is the future of the joint programs between American and Chinese universities? A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Bill:Made in Hong Kong: Transpacific Networks and a New History of Globalization by Peter E. HamiltonThe Dean of Shandong: The Confessions of a Minor Bureaucrat at a Chinese University by Daniel A. BellThe Real World of College: What Higher Education Is and What It Can Be by Wendy Fischman and Howard Gardner9,000 Years of Wine: A World History by Rod PhillipsRed Mandarin Dress: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu XiaolongKaiser: Adventures of Horatio Hornblower by Entertainment RadioMentioned: Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China by William C. KirbySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser is joined by The China Project's CEO Bob Guterma, who just so happens to have served at Chief Compliance Officer (and later Managing Director for Europe and the U.S.) for the expert network Capvision. Capvision, as listeners may well be aware, was the Shanghai-based company whose offices in China were raided by Chinese law enforcement, resulting in the detention of two experts for allegedly passing on military secrets to foreign companies. Does this signal a major crackdown on consultancies? And what are the implications for foreign businesses in China? Bob shares his insights — and things are more complicated than you might think.03:39 – Background information on Capvision10:29 – The national security concerns in the Capvision case.12:27 – Is there a connection between the case of Capvision with the previous cases of Bain and Mintz?20:13 – Is there changing optics for Western companies doing business in China?22:13 – The possible connection between the Capvision case and the Espionage Law32:22 – The context of bigger changes in the past three years in China in light of achieving government goals.34:34 – The inner workings of a compliance officer in expert networks36:44 – Media outlets’ misconceptions and a lack of diligent research regarding the Capvision case A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.Recommendations:Bob:  Energy and Civilization: A History by Vaclav SmilKaiser: Mr. Bungle’s debut album Mr. BungleSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week on Sinica, Kendra Schaefer, a partner specializing in technology at China-focused consultancy Trivium, and Jeremy Daum, Senior Research Scholar in Law and Senior Fellow at the Paul Tsai China Center. discuss the new draft regulations published in April by the Cyberspace Administration of China that will, when passed, govern generative AI in China. Will it choke off innovation, or create conditions for the safe development of this world-changing technology?04:36 – What is the difference between deep synthesis internet services and generative AI?06:17 – Areas affected by the set of newest regulations: recommendation algorithms, deep fakes11:15 – Major national regulations governing generative AI in China vs. in the West.15:35 – The question of the privacy policy in China18:25 – How far along are the tech companies when it comes to truly applying generative AI?24:16 – Main areas of concern about ChatGPT raised in China and the US. What are the government and companies doing to deal with these issues?28:04 – Is the idea to label AI-generated content sufficient?38:28 – Requirements and concerns for training data for generative AI. Questions of accuracy and authenticity.47:21 – Will the generative AI stay in the social media landscape, or spread toward the industrial sector?50:12 – To what extent will export restrictions affect the development of generative AI in China?A transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.comRecommendations:Kendra: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth KaraJeremy: The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine ChanKaiser: The Earth Transformed: An Untold History by Peter Frankopan; Belafonte: At Carnegie Hall by Harry Belafonte; and Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall (Live) by Harry BelafonteSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.