Sinica Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Sinica Network presents the Café & Seda (Coffee & Silk) Podcast Jul 28, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, we offer listeners a sneak preview of one of the new shows coming soon to the Sinica Network: Café & Seda, or Coffee and Silk. While this episode is in English, the podcast will be mostly in Spanish — our first non-English show. The host is Parsifal D'Sola, who is Executive Director of the ABF China Latin America Research Center and a nonresident senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub. Parsifal is a native of Venezuela, and his focus is on Sino-Latin American relations. Between 2019 and 2020, he acted as Chinese Foreign Policy Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Interim Government of Venezuela of Juan Guaido.

In this episode, Parsifal talks with Dr. Evan Ellis. Evan is a research professor of Latin American Studies at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College. His work focuses on the region’s relationships with China and other non-Western Hemisphere actors as well as transnational organized crime and populism in the region. He previously served on the Secretary of State’s policy planning staff with responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean as well as international narcotics and law enforcement issues. Evan has also been awarded the Order of Military Merit José María Córdova by the Colombian government for his scholarship on security issues in the region.

Latin America has been the world’s most affected region due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Poverty levels have risen considerably, and economic contraction is several points higher than the global average. How will this affect Sino- Latin American relations? Furthermore, while the United States increasingly loses influence across the region, Chinese foreign policy has become more sophisticated and localized, filling many of the spaces traditionally filled by the United States and other Western actors. Evan helps us answer these questions and offers recommendations both for the United States in dealing with China’s growing role in the region, as well as advice for Latin American countries in managing the challenges that greater engagement with China will bring about.

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

Recommendations:

China Engages Latin America: Distorting Development and Democracy? By Evan Ellis

Links of interest:

Articles from Evan Ellis at Global Americans

Andrés Bello Foundation - China Latin America Research Center

Twitter: @FABChinaLatam | @REvanEllis

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Prototype Nation: Silvia Lindtner on what drives Chinese tech innovation, and how tech drives Chinese statecraft Jul 21, 2022

Show notes

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Kaiser chats with Silvia Lindtner of the University of Michigan about her book Prototype Nation. In a wide-ranging conversation, they discuss how China's maker movement inspired the Party leadership to encourage tech entrepreneurship, how Shenzhen rose to such prominence in technology production, the fetishization of the shanzhai movement, and much more.

5:29 How narratives on Chinese tech innovation have shifted

14:10 What made China's technological innovation possible?

20:37 State support for the maker movement and mass innovation

29:52 The technocratic and entrepreneurial mindset of the CCP

38:45 Techno-optimism in China versus the West

45:57 Shenzhen's "hacker paradise" as a transnational project

50:02 Orientalism in the West's fascination with shanzhai, or copycat, culture

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

Recommendations

Silvia: In This Moment, We Are Happy by Chen Qiufan and Surrogate Humanity: Race, Robots, and the Politics of Technological Futures by Kalindi Vora and Neda Atanasoski

Kaiser: Sarmat Archery based in Kiev, Ukraine

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Semiconductors and the unspoken U.S. tech policy on China, with Paul Triolo Jul 15, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Paul Triolo, Senior VP for China and Technology Policy Lead at Dentons Global Advisors ASG, formerly and probably better known still as Albright Stonebridge Group. Paul provides an in-depth overview of today’s semiconductor landscape, from export control issues, to the unstable equilibrium between U.S., China, and Taiwan’s industries. He walks us through the strategic importance of semiconductors in U.S. national security considerations — and how unintended consequences of our current policies toward China might actually end up undermining U.S. national security.

04:45 – An overview of semiconductor geopolitics and supply chains

20:33 – Why the U.S. is cutting China off from advanced semiconductor technologies

27:02 – The shift in technology export controls from Trump to Biden

32:08 – The CHIPS Act and subsidies for the semiconductor industry

37:43 – Deterrence and Taiwan’s semiconductor industry as a “silicon shield”

46:16 – Lessons learned from the chip shortage

52:30 – Why is the U.S lighting a fire to Chinese self-sufficiency efforts?

57:57 – The implications of Pelosi’s planned visit to Taiwan

A transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.

Recommendations:

Paul: Rob Dunn, A Natural History of the Future; and Ryan Hass, Stronger: Adapting America's China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence

Kaiser: The Boyson Amazon Prime

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Historian Andrew Liu on COVID origins: Orientalism and the "Asiatic racial form" Jul 07, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Villanova University historian Andrew Liu. Andy published an excellent essay in n+1 magazine in April that captured how the eclipse of the "wet-market" theory of COVID origins and its replacement by the "lab-leak" theory illustrates how an old racial form — "Orientalism," which sees countries of Asia as backward, dirty, and barbarous — gave way to what's been termed an "Asiatic" racial form, which reflects anxiety over Asians as hyperproductive, robotic, and technologically advanced.

3:05 – Andy's n+1 essay on the lab leak theory and the two racial forms

6:26 – A primer on Edward Said's Orientalism and why it's a poor fit for Asia today

10:41 – The "Asiatic racial form" and the notionally "positive" Asian stereotypes

13:58 – How Orientalism and the Asiatic racial form interact today and historically

23:50 – Conspiracies on China, and what's wrong with the Asiatic form

27:51 – Japan's rise as a parallel

30:57 – How to talk about Chinese attitudes toward tech without invoking Asiatic stereotypes

37:27 – Race, culture, and global capitalism

A full transcript of this podcast is available on SupChina.com.

Recommendations:

Andy: Stay True: a memoir by the New Yorker writer Hua Hsu and donating to abortion providers in states affected by the end of Roe v. Wade:, like Abortion Care for Tennessee, abortioncaretn.org

Kaiser: The Danish political drama Borgen on Netflix

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Yale's Jing Tsu on the characters who modernized Chinese characters Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Jing Tsu, John M. Schiff Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures & Comparative Literature at Yale University, about her wonderful new book Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution that Made China Modern. Jing talks about her role as culture commentator for NBC during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, about how the written Chinese language has helped shape China, and about the fascinating individuals who worked to bring a writing system so deeply rooted in history and tradition into the modern world.

Link to Jing and Kaiser interviewed for the Radio Opensource Podcast here.

4:59 – Jing's role as cultural commentator for NBC during the Winter Games

10:43 – The impetus for writing Kingdom of Characters

16:09 – Why the critics of the Chinese writing system called for its destruction

18:57 – What the defenders of the Chinese writing system love so much about it

25:51 – The challenge of writing about the technology of Chinese writing

29:05 – The Chinese writing system as a metaphor for China

32:46 – The next technological frontiers for Chinese

35:48 – Language and how it shapes thinking in China

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

Recommendations:

Jing: Everything Everywhere All at Once

Kaiser: The Pattern of the Chinese Past by Mark Elvin; and Closure/Continuation, a new album by the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree.

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Taiwan: Saber rattling, salami slicing, and strategic ambiguity, with Shelley Rigger and Simona Grano Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

This week on the Sinica Podcast, Shelley Rigger of Davidson College returns to the show to talk Taiwan. She's joined by Simona Grano, a sinologist and Taiwan specialist at the University of Zürich. They talk about President Joe Biden's recent "gaffes" that call into question the longstanding, unofficial U.S. policy of "strategic ambiguity," talk about how Taiwan has been impacted by the Ukraine War, and much more.

4:59: – What did Joe Biden's latest "gaffe" on Taiwan actually signify?

10:06 – Did "strategic ambiguity" serve its intended purpose?

16:23 – The mood in Taiwan

20:51 – The impact of the Ukraine War on thinking in Beijing and in Taipei

34:12 – European countries navigating relationships with Taiwan

43:54 – The "One China Principle" versus the "One China Policy"

47:20 – Are bilateral trade agreements enough for Taiwan?

50:27 – Ethnicity, nationality, and the Taiwan issue

59:00 – Making sense of the PRC claim to Taiwan

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

Recommendations:

Simona: Orphan of Asia, a novelby Wu Zhuoliu; and the show Orange is the New Black

Shelley: Occupied, a Norwegian thriller series on Netflix

Kaiser: Meizhong.report, a Chinese-language resource from the Carter Center's U.S.-China Perception Monitor, covering official, media, and social media commentary on U.S.-China relations

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

A Comprehensive Mirror: James Carter's "This Week in China's History" column marks two years Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with James (Jay) Carter, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Jay, who joined us on the show in December 2020 to talk about his book Champion's Day, is the author of one of the most widely-read columns that SupChina runs: This Week in China's History. In honor of two full years of contributions, with over 100 columns, Kaiser asked Jay to talk about his process, his purpose, and the challenges and the rewards of writing this excellent column.

6:34 – The origin story of the column, and its original intention

11:34 – How the hell does Jay do it week in and week out?

23:84 – Jay talks about Jonathan Spence and what it was like to study under him at Yale

31:32 – On the diversity of perspectives in the column

40:53 – How the column keeps Jay connected to academic work and intellectual life

43:35 – Threading the needle in deploying historical analogy, and right-sizing historical "rhymes" and patterns

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

Recommendations:

Jay: The Broadway musical Hadestown; and the New York City Ballet

Kaiser: The inaugural Sinologia Conference on June 10

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Mental health under lockdown: A clinical psychologist in Shanghai Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes back Dr. George Hu, a clinical psychologist based in Shanghai, who has a lot to say about the state of mental health in Chinese cities under lockdown. Unsurprisingly, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression have been exacerbated under conditions of isolation and food insecurity. Surprisingly, there's a silver lining or two to the whole thing.

6:52 – Getting a sense for the scale of mental health problems related to the lockdown in Shanghai

16:23 – Have the lockdowns increased awareness of and empathy for people suffering from mental health disorders in Shanghai and in China?

20:07 – The lockdowns and impact on children and on the elderly

34:05 – The impact on essential workers

42:21 – What other Chinese cities are learning from Shanghai's COVID-19 experience

45:22 – The quarantine centers and mental health services

A full transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com.

Recommendations:

George: How to Raise an Adult: Break Free of the Overparenting Trap and Prepare Your Kid For Successby Julie Lythcott-Haims

Kaiser: Nicholas Confessore's series in the New York Times on Tucker Carlson, "American Nationalist"

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Covering the U.S.-China relations beat with the FT's Demetri Sevastopulo May 26, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser welcomes veteran Asia reporter Demetri Sevastopulo, who covers the U.S.-China relationship for the Financial Times. They discuss some of Demetri's scoops, like the news that Vladimir Putin had requested military aid from Xi Jinping, leaked just before National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan's meeting in Switzerland with State Councillor Yang Jiechi and just three weeks after Russia's invasion; and the news that China had tested a hypersonic glide craft in October of last year. But the focus of the discussion is on the Biden administration's China policy and its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework — an Asia strategy that, by all accounts, has met with a tepid response in the region.

1:47 – How Demetri landed a beat as U.S.-China relations correspondent

5:24 – How the FT scooped the story on Putin's military assistance request to Xi Jinping in March 2022

12:05 – The Chinese hypersonic glidecraft

24:42 – The DC China policy scene: A dramatis personae

40:11 – The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework: all guns and no butter

52:54 – The Quad and AUKUS: American-led security arrangements

A full transcript of this podcast is available at SupChina.com

Recommendations

Demetri: Gunpowder, an Irish gin from County Leitrim; and Roku, a Japanese whiskey by Suntori

Kaiser: Chokepoint Capitalism, a forthcoming book on how monopolies and monopsonies are ruining culture, by Rebecca Gilbin and Cory Doctorow

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Too much of a good thing? Connectivity and the age of "unpeace," with the ECFR's Mark Leonard May 19, 2022

Show notes

This week on Sinica, Kaiser is joined by Mark Leonard, founder and director of the European Council on Foreign Relations and author most recently of The Age of Unpeace: How Connectivity Causes Conflict. Mark talks about how despite the bright promise that increasing connectedness — whether in trade, telecommunications, or movements of individuals — would usher in a world of better mutual understanding and enduring peace, the reality is that this connectedness has made the world more fractured and fractious. He explains how the three "empires of connectivity" — the U.S., China, and the EU — each leverage their extensive connectivity to advance their own interests. He also unpacks his assertion that the world is coming to share China's longstanding ambivalence toward connectedness.

1:05 – Kaiser tells how researching an abortive book project presaged Mark's conclusion that familiarity can breed contempt

7:58 – How Mark came to be a deep ambivalence about connectivity

16:03 – The three "empires of connectivity" and how they leverage or weaponize connectivity

31:41 – How all the connected empires are taking on "Chinese characteristics"

41:41 – How the Russo-Ukrainian War fits into Mark's framework in the book

51:49 – Chinese intellectuals and the shift in their thinking

A full transcript of this interview is available on SupChina.com.

Recommendations:

Mark: Chinese Hegemony: Grand Strategy and International Institutions in East Asian History by Zhang Feng

Kaiser: "A Teacher in China Learns the Limits of Free Expression," the latest piece by Peter Hessler in The New Yorker; and the Israeli spy thriller Tehranon AppleTV.

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

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