Sinica Podcast

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 students in Wuhan plead for evacuation, by April Zhu; The disappearance of Perhat Tursun, one of the Uyghur world’s greatest authors, by Darren Byler; and Chinese moms in America’s illicit massage parlors, by Teng Chen. Yanzhong: Two movies, Outbreak and 28 Days Later. Kaiser: The subtle muckrakers of the coronavirus epidemic, by Maria Repnikova.This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 assistance of the Serica Initiative, SupChina’s nonprofit program.23:18: Relitigating the case for engagement26:44: The biggest economic hurdles for the U.S. and China39:33: Addressing technological concerns with the P.R.C.44:54: Shaping China policy for the future: Rebuild as it was, or begin anew? Recommendations:Barry: Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, by George Packer.Susan: Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China, by Ezra F. Vogel.Kaiser: The New China Scare, in the January/February edition of Foreign Affairs, by Fareed Zakaria. This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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, Washington, on January 15, 2020. 6:05: Bringing China into the Iran Nuclear Deal12:31: The role of oil in China-Iran relations21:36: Reflections on the trade war and phase one trade deal32:49: Creating a grand strategy while China looms largeRecommendations:Jeff: The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, by Isabel Wilkerson.Kaiser: Lakota America: A New History of Indigenous Power (The Lamar Series in Western History), by Pekka Hämäläinen. This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 Taiwan24:48: China, and Taiwanese independence32:18: The political views of Tsai Ing-wen37:00: Did China interfere in Taiwan’s presidential election?Recommendations:Maggie: Two recommendations related to the Pacific Northwest, where Maggie went to school: the band Sleater-Kinney and the Portland bookstore Powell’s.Kaiser: The Light That Failed: Why the West Is Losing the Fight for Democracy, by Ivan Krasnev and Stephen Holmes.This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.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 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 Jinping14:47: How prioritization on national security is implemented22:38: How the PLA is funded, and where the money is going28:36: Made in China 2025’s military counterpart37:33: Beijing’s long march to technological self-relianceRecommendations:Tai: In the Shadow of the Garrison State, by Aaron L. Friedberg. Kaiser: A new podcast, The Industrial Revolutions, by David Broker.This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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:Alejandro: Talking to my mother about Hong Kong, by SupChina columnist Yangyang Cheng. You can find more of her work here.Kaiser: The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator, by Timothy C. Winegard.This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 by Damon Lindelof. This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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. consulate in Chengdu, and rare details about the flight of blind dissident lawyer Chén Guāngchéng 陈光诚 to the U.S. embassy in Beijing.7:58: State-level interactions with China17:54: Working as the secretary of commerce under President Obama33:32: Wang Lijun’s attempted defection 41:55: A look back at the Chen Guangcheng debacle 1:01:09: Xi Jinping, and how he changedRecommendations:Gary: Knives Out, written and directed by Rian Johnson, and the movie Parasite, directed by Bong Joon-ho. Kaiser: The blog Reading the China Dream, which contains a collection of translated works of Chinese intellectuals.This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 physicist8:26: Scientific research and the state15:15: The overlap between politics and science24:28: Is technocracy problematic?Recommendations:Jeremy: A new podcast called You Can Learn Chinese, hosted by John Pasden and Jared Turner.  Yangyang: The author James Baldwin and his novels, as well as a collection of short films titled Ten Years, which depict a dystopian future for Hong Kong in the year 2025. Kaiser: Middlemarch, by George Eliot.This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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 individuals deemed at risk for Islamic extremism or separatism in Xinjiang.9:43: What do the leaks mean?14:53: A timeline of events in Xinjiang18:57: The “Integrated Joint Operations Platform”24:50: The world’s highest-stakes “testing,” in Xinjiang camps33:58: What can, and should, the U.S. do?Recommendations:Jeremy: One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, by Andrea Pitzer. Bethany: The Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt, a look at totalitarian governments in the 20th century. Kaiser: The December issue of The Atlantic, themed “How to Stop a Civil War.” With an emphasis on a few essays: The dark psychology of social networks, by Jonathan Haidt and Tobias Rose-Stockwell; Too much democracy is bad for democracy, by Jonathan Rauch and Ray La Raja; and The dishonesty of the abortion debate, by Caitlin Flanagan.This podcast was edited and produced by Kaiser Kuo and Jason MacRonald.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.