Sinica Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The case for the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement Sep 07, 2023

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Karen Hao, a reporter recently with the Wall Street Journal whose previous work with the MIT Technology Review has been featured on Sinica; and by Deborah Seligsohn, assistant professor of political science at Villanova University, who has been on the show many times just in the last three years. Both Karen and Deborah have written persuasively about the importance of renewing the U.S.-China Science and Technology Agreement, first signed in 1979 shortly after the normalization of U.S.-China relations under Jimmy Carter and renewed, for the most part, every five years without much fuss — until this year. Karen and Debbi make clear what has been accomplished under the agreement's auspices, and why GOP concerns are largely misplaced.

03:45 – The origins of the STA and the reasons for establishing it

07:34 – Criticisms against the agreement — the question of IP theft and PLA’s engagement

17:53 – What is the real reason behind such a strong opposition towards the agreement?

22:23 – How have the dynamics between China and the U.S. contribution to the STA changed over the years?

30:36 – The consequences of ending the scientific relationship with China on the example of the terminated space exploration cooperation

35:23 – Which specific projects would be put on hold in case of lack of renewal of scientific cooperation with China?

41:23 – Other scenarios for cooperation in the area of AI in the possible absence of the STA

50:10 – Are there parts of the agreement that should be enhanced or improved?

53:50 – What’s the chance for a renewal of the agreement after the six-month extension?

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com

Recommendations:

Debbi: Abortion Opponents Are Targeting a Signature G.O.P. Public-Health Initiative by Peter Slevin (in The New Yorker)

Karen: Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity by Daren Acemoglu and Simon Johnson

Kaiser: King’s War (Chinese TV series 《楚汉传奇》Chǔhàn chuánqí on Netflix

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Rise and Fall of the EAST: MIT's Yasheng Huang on his new book Aug 31, 2023

Show notes

This week on Sinica, MIT professor Yasheng Huang joins Kaiser to talk about his brand new book The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why they Might Lead to its Decline. This ambitious and thought-provoking book is bound to stir up quite a bit of controversy. It’s a long conversation — but worth the listen!

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

China Stories summer special: The best of This Week in China's HIstory Aug 24, 2023

Show notes

Something different this week on Sinica: A selection of "This Week in China's History" columns by James Carter, all narrated by Kaiser with a little interstitial music by Chunqiu (Spring & Autumn).

The columns:

Not just a metaphor: Dragons of imperial China show us how people lived (1517)
The ‘Empress of China’ and the beginning of U.S.-China trade (1784)
The rise of Empress Dowager Cixi (1861)
In the 7th century, a Chinese coup of Shakespearean proportions (626)
Titanic’s six Chinese survivors tell a story that goes far beyond a shipwreck (1912)
The problem with Mao’s ‘continuous’ revolution (1967)
The Battle of Red Cliffs and the blurring of fact and fiction (208-209)

The music: snippets from

The Huntsman
The Last Page (intro)
The Subcelestial
A Call from Afar
Between the Mountains and the Sea
Born of the Storm
Born of the Storm (again)
A New Day
The Last Page (outro)

All these tracks and more are available on Spotify here or on YouTube here.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wargaming a Taiwan invasion scenario: Lyle Goldstein on the CSIS wargame “The First Battle of the Next War" Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes back Lyle Goldstein, director for China engagement at the think tank Defense Priorities and previously a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, where he taught for 20 years. Lyle offers his perspectives on an extensive wargaming exercise focusing on a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan, conducted under the auspices of CSIS (the Center for Strategic and International Studies) and published in January of this year — the first such exercise whose findings were made public. He offers insight into the real value of the exercise, as well as some of its shortcomings.

01:03 – The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan – the first large-scale publicly available wargame conducted by CSIS

04:05 – The history of wargaming and its significance

09:09 – What is the value of wargaming?

13:12 – The physical setup of the wargames and the role of dice and technology in contingency

17:49 – The assumptions that go into the game

22:05 – How much agency do the players have?

24:16 – How are the decisions of other countries factored in the wargame?

26:11 – Pros and cons of the CSIS wargame

31:57 – Thoughts on the possibility of nuclear escalation

38:43 – A take on the report’s assumptions and conclusions

47:37 – Will we get a warning?

A complete transcript of this episode is available at TheChinaProject.com.

Recommendations:

CSIS Report: The First Battle of the Next War: Wargaming a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan

Lyle: Yin Yu Tang in Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

Kaiser: The Story of Civilization [Volumes 1 to 11] by Will & Ariel Durant

Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume 1 by Will Durant

Mentioned:

Meeting China Halfway: How to Defuse the Emerging US-China Rivalry by Lyle J. Goldstein

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The state of play of generative AI in China, with Paul Triolo Aug 10, 2023

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Paul Triolo returns to the show to give us a rundown on what’s happening in the exciting arena of generative AI in China. The veteran China tech watcher, who is now Senior VP for China and Technology Policy Lead at Dentons Global Advisors ASG, is Just back from a trip to China during which he spoke with numerous companies working in the space, Paul offers a great overview of what various companies are doing, and how they’re responding to U.S. restrictions on the export of key hardware needed for large AI training and modeling.

03:38 – The Chinese AI community’s reaction to the unveiling of ChatGPT by OpenAI

08:14 – What drives China’s National AI Development strategy?

14:31 – Chinese AI researchers and their perspectives on regulation

21:28 – Is there a lot of investor money going into Generative AI startups?

24:25 – U.S. policy on China’s AI development

35:53 – What will China’s Generative AI look like?

44:14– Companies involved in Chinese AI

51:31 – The changing availability of innovative AI scientists in China

55:10 – How will decoupling effect AI competition?

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.

Recommendations:

Paul: The Alignment Problem by Brian Christian

A Lonesome Dove trilogy by Larry McMurtry

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

Kaiser: The Righteous Gemstones on HBO

Justified: City Prime Evil on Hulu

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is the Biden administration resetting U.S.-China relations? Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

This week on Sinica, with Kaiser on holiday we're running a terrific Twitter Spaces conversation convened by Neysun Mahboubi of UPenn's Center for the Study of Contemporary China. He's gathered a great group including Yawei Liu, whose U.S.-China Perception Monitor under the Carter Center is the co-sponsor for Neysun's series, as well as Anna Ashton of the Eurasia Group, Robert Daly of the Kissinger Institute, Rorry Daniels of the Asia Society Policy Institute, and Ian Johnson of the Council on Foreign Relations. Enjoy this in-depth exploration of the state of U.S.-China relations — as well as the opening segment on the fate of ex-PRC Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

No transcript this week, but enjoy the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The CFR Taiwan task force report: advice and dissent, with Maggie Lewis and Paul Heer Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Margaret (Maggie) Lewis, professor of law at Seton Hall University and veteran Taiwan observer, and Paul Heer, former national intelligence officer for East Asia in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) under the Obama administration. Both were members of the Council on Foreign Relations’s task force on U.S.-Taiwan policy, which produced a report titled “U.S.-Taiwan Relations in a New Era: Responding to a More Assertive China.” Both also wrote dissents, included in the report, about some of its findings and recommendations. They discuss what they think the report got right — and what it got wrong.

01:01 – Introduction to the CFR’s report U.S.-Taiwan Relations in a New Era: Responding to a More Assertive China

05:09 – The mechanics of producing the report

06:46 – Areas of common consensus among participants

08:48 – What is the significance of the PLA’s centennial in 2027 in view of the CFR task force?

10:54 – Is the report too focused on the military at the expense of political, diplomatic, and economic considerations?

14:22 – Taiwanese perspectives in the report

16:36 – Strategic ambiguity and President Biden’s “gaffes” as a new baseline for U.S. declaratory policy

20:48 – The issue of deterrence: American and Chinese approaches

25:48 – What has the United States done to move the status quo in terms of the Taiwan issue?

41:06 – Is there evidence yet of Chinese preparation for a military action against Taiwan?

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.

Recommendations:

Maggie: Fever: The Hunt for Covid’s Origin by John Sudworth (podcast)

Paul: Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan

Kennan: A life between Worlds by Frank Costigliola

Kaiser: The Rise and Fall of the EAST: How Exams, Autocracy, Stability, and Technology Brought China Success, and Why They Might Lead to Its Decline by Yasheng Huang

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transnational repression and China's "overseas police stations," with Jeremy Daum of Yale's Paul Tsai China Law Center Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

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 stations

06:19 – The disparity between the press release and the actual charges against the investigated Chinese individuals

08:48 – 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 criminals

26:29 – Is the media narrative regarding popular myths about China slowly changing?

30:22 – Other governments’ views on and actions towards Chinese police stations

31:38 – Tactics used on the return of alleged criminals to China

34:11 – An update on the topic of draft regulations on Generative AI

A 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/tuna

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

China after COVID: UPenn's Neysun Mahboubi reports on scholarly exchange in a tightening political space Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

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 relations

10:15 – The changes in Beijing in recent years

13:49 – The recently observed growing reticence of Chinese people to speak up, and the third-rail topics

16:50 – The effect of Chinese administrative handling of the pandemic on people’s trust

25:01 – 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 tensions

40:13 – The Ukraine War from the perspective of Chinese intellectuals

A complete transcript of this podcast is available at TheChinaProject.com.

Recommendations:

Neysun: To Live, directed by Zhang Yimou

Kaiser: The Status Kuo, an American politics substack by Jay Kuo

Mentioned:

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.

China's Military-Civil Fusion program: CNAS fellow Elsa Kania on the myths and realities Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

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 MCF

24:59 – The collaboration between Chinese and American researchers in light of MCF

31:00 – The awareness of Chinese policy-makers of the sensitivities associated with MCF by other nations

34:56 – 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 Leckie

Kaiser: A recipe for making homemade nuomi cha / genmai cha — green tea with roasted glutinous rice

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected