Shows / Sinica Podcast
Sinica Podcast
A weekly discussion of current affairs in China with journalists, writers, academics, policymakers, business people and anyone with something compelling to say about the country that's reshaping the world. Hosted by Kaiser Kuo.
Episodes
- Sinica Podcast
Sinica Weekend Edition: Three Days Out and About in Beijing
Something different this week. Since I moved back to Beijing, the question I get most often has nothing to do with trade or tech or the 15th Five Year Plan…
- Sinica Podcast
Mr. China’s Great Enterprise: Tim Clissold and the Fight for a Chinese Civilisation A-level
This week on Sinica, I sit down in Beijing with Tim Clissold. If you read one book about doing business in China in the 2000s, there’s a fair chance it was his…
- Sinica Podcast
Afra Wang on Liangzhu, China’s Vibe-Coding Capital, and the Anxious Optimism of the AI Boom
This week on Sinica, I’m joined again by Afra Wang, the Bay Area-based writer behind the AI newsletter Concurrent, who was last on the show in January to talk…
- Sinica Podcast
From Barefoot Doctors to Biologics: Dr. Ruby Wang on China's Healthcare Revolution
This week on Sinica, I sit down with Dr. Ruby Wang, whose new book, China Cure: The Rise of a Biotech, AI Medicine and Global Health Superpower (Agenda…
- Sinica Podcast
Not a Master Plan: The Real History of China's Rare Earth Dominance, with Gloria Xiong and Jessica Chen Weiss
This week I sat down with Gloria Xiong, Assistant Professor of Government at Colby College, and Jessica Chen Weiss, the David M. Lampton Professor of China…
- Sinica Podcast
Strategic Stalemate: Ryan Hass on How Beijing Sees America — and Trump
This week on Sinica, I’m joined once again by Ryan Hass, Director of the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, former NSC director for China, Taiwan, and…
- Sinica Podcast
Talking Past Each Other: Pallavi Aiyar on India, China, and the Case for Cognitive Empathy
This week on Sinica, I sit down with the writer Pallavi Aiyar — at her own dining table in Beijing, where in recent months I’ve been the lucky beneficiary of…
- Sinica Podcast
The Future, Made in China: Evan Osnos on America's Reckoning
This week on Sinica, I welcome back Evan Osnos of The New Yorker, whose marvelous new essay, “The Future, Made in China,” chronicles a tech-focused return trip…
- Sinica Podcast
Samm Sacks and Paul Triolo on WAIC 2026, Xi's AI Speech, and Kimi K3
This week on Sinica, a rare treat: an in-person recording from Beijing with two dear friends who happen to be two of the very best in the business on…
- Sinica Podcast
The Platform State: Angela Zhang and Alex Yang on How China Really Governs Its Economy
This week on Sinica, in a special episode recorded at the Davos On Air booth at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, I sat…
- Sinica Podcast
Agile Governance: Tsinghua's Xue Lan on How China Regulates What It Can't Fully Predict
Recorded live from the Davos on Air booth at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian, this special episode of Sinica tackles…
- Sinica Podcast
China Shock 2.0: This Time It's Europe, with Adam Tooze
Last week in Brussels, EU leaders held their first sustained debate on China policy in three years, and were so wary of Beijing’s reaction they wouldn’t print…
- Sinica Podcast
"But China!": Robert Wright on the AI Race and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning
This week on Sinica I'm joined by Robert Wright, author of The Moral Animal, Nonzero, and The Evolution of God, for a conversation that runs a little outside…
- Sinica Podcast
The Texas Paradox: How the Most Anti-China State Is Building America's China Capacity
The summit in Beijing produced a "constructive strategic stability" framework and a warming of tone between the two presidents. But heads of state can announce…
- Sinica Podcast
The View from Everywhere Else: Eric Olander on how the Global South is reading the Beijing summits
Eric Olander on how the Global South is reading the Beijing summits This week I'm joined again by Eric Olander, founder of the China Global South Project…
- Sinica Podcast
To Rule All Under Heaven: Andrew Meyer on His New Popular History of the Warring States
This week on Sinica, I speak with Andrew Seth Meyer, professor of history at CUNY Brooklyn College and the author of a remarkable new book from Oxford…
- Sinica Podcast
"Constructive Strategic Stability": Ali Wyne of the International Crisis Group on the Trump-Xi Summit
This week on Sinica, I chat with Ali Wyne, Senior Research and Advocacy Adviser for U.S.-China at the International Crisis Group, just hours after President…
- Sinica Podcast
"The China Debate We're Not Having" | Part 4: The AI Race Reconsidered
This week I’m sharing the fourth and final installment from the day-long conference convened by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global…
- Sinica Podcast
The Poetry of Zheng Xiaoqiong: A Conversation with Translator Eleanor Goodman
This week on Sinica, in a special episode recorded as a live joint webcast with NYRB/Poets and Equator Magazine, I sit down with Eleanor Goodman — poet…
- Sinica Podcast
"The China Debate We're Not Having" | Part 3: Tech, Rivalry, and Competing Visions of the Future
This week I'm sharing the third installment from the day-long conference convened by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs (ACF)…
- Sinica Podcast
Spain's China Gambit: Pedro Sánchez, Strategic Autonomy, and the European Turn to Beijing — with Mario Esteban Rodríguez
This week on Sinica: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrapped up his fourth visit to China in as many years last week, and this one may be the most…
- Sinica Podcast
"The China Debate We're Not Having" | Part 2: What Does the United States Want?
This week I'm sharing the next installment from the terrific day-long conference convened by the Institute for America, China, and the Future of Global Affairs…
- Sinica Podcast
"The China Debate We're Not Having" | Part 1: What China Wants
Opening Remarks & Session 1: What China Wants Johns Hopkins SAIS ACF Conference, April 3, 2026 This week's episode features audio from a day-long conference…
- Sinica Podcast
Adam Tooze is Chinamaxxing!
Economic historian Adam Tooze returns to Sinica fresh from the China Development Forum and his second extended visit to Beijing in under a year. In this…
- Sinica Podcast
Is China Trying to Sever Plato from NATO? Chang Che on Beijing's Embrace of the Greco-Roman Classics
This week on Sinica, I welcome journalist and former colleague Chang Che. His recent New Yorker piece "How China Learned to Love the Classics" generated…
- Sinica Podcast
Edge of Ruin: Mike Lampton and Wang Jisi’s Warning on U.S.-China Relations
David M. Lampton—“Mike”—is one of America’s most distinguished scholars of U.S.–China relations, director of China Studies Emeritus at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and…
- Sinica Podcast
Governing Digital China, with Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo
This week on Sinica, I speak with Daniela Stockmann and Ting Luo, co-authors of Governing Digital China, a new book that examines how an authoritarian state…
- Sinica Podcast
Yi-Ling Liu on The Wall Dancers: China's Internet, Its Creative Spirits, and the Art of the Possible
This week on Sinica, I speak with Yi-Ling Liu, journalist, former China editor at Rest of World, and author of the new book The Wall Dancers: Searching for…
- Sinica Podcast
Kyle Chan on the Great Reversal in Global Technology Flows
This week on Sinica, I speak with Kyle Chan, a fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings, previously a postdoc at Princeton, and author of the…
- Sinica Podcast
Brookings' Patricia Kim Takes Stock of Trump's Second-Term China Policy
This week on Sinica, I speak with Patricia Kim, a Fellow at the Brookings Institution's John L. Thornton China Center, where she focuses on U.S. policy toward…
- Sinica Podcast
Uneasy Calm: Ryan Hass on Three Pathways for U.S.-China Relations Under Trump
This week on Sinica, I speak with Ryan Hass, director of the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings and one of the most clear-eyed analysts of the…
- Sinica Podcast
Afra Wang on "The Morning Star of Lingao" (临高启明) and the Rise and Reckoning of China's "Industrial Party"
This week on Sinica, I speak with Afra Wang, a writer working between London and the Bay Area, currently a fellow with Gov.AI. We're talking today about her…
- Sinica Podcast
The Highest Exam: Jia Ruixue and Li Hongbin on China's Gaokao and What It Reveals About Chinese Society
This week on Sinica, I speak with Jia Ruixue and Li Hongbin, coauthors of The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China. We're talking about China's college…
- Sinica Podcast
Daniel Bessner on American Primacy, Cold War Liberalism, and the China Challenge
This week on Sinica, I speak with Daniel Bessner, the Anne H.H. and Kenneth B. Pyle Assistant Professor in American Foreign Policy at the Henry M. Jackson…
- Sinica Podcast
Eric Olander: After the Maduro Capture — Assessing China's Real Exposure in Venezuela
This week on Sinica, in a joint episode with the China-Global South Podcast, I speak with Eric Olander, host of the China Global South Podcast and…
- Sinica Podcast
Michael Brenes and Van Jackson on Why U.S.-China Great-Power Competition Threatens Peace and Weakens Democracy
This week on Sinica, recorded at Yale University, I speak with Michael Brenes and Van Jackson, coauthors of The Rivalry Peril: How Great-Power Competition…
- Sinica Podcast
Paul Triolo on Nvidia H200s, Chinese EUV Breakthroughs, and the Collapse of the Sullivan Doctrine
Happy holidays from Sinica! This week, I speak with Paul Triolo, Senior Vice President for China and Technology Policy Lead at DGA Albright Stonebridge Group…
- Sinica Podcast
Mark Sidel on China's Oversight of Foreign NGOs: Eight Years of the Overseas NGO Law
This week on Sinica, I speak with Mark Sidel, the Doyle Bascom Professor of Law and Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a senior fellow…
- Sinica Podcast
Guest Host Iza Ding with Deborah Seligsohn: Inside COP30 in Belem, Brazil, and China's Climate Leadership
This week on Sinica, I'm delighted to have Iza Ding as guest host. Iza is a professor of political science at Northwestern University and a good friend whose…
- Sinica Podcast
Murder House: Zhong Na on the Silicon Valley Tragedy That Exposed the Cracks in China's Meritocracy
This week on Sinica, I speak with Zhong Na, a novelist and essayist whose new piece, "Murder House," appears in the inaugural issue of Equator — a striking new…
- Sinica Podcast
Finbarr Bermingham of the SCMP on Nexperia, Export Controls, and Europe's Impossible Position
This week on Sinica, I welcome back Finbarr Bermingham, the Brussels-based Europe correspondent for the South China Morning Post, about the Nexperia dispute —…
- Sinica Podcast
We Were Right: Kaiser and Jeremy Reunite to Riff on the China Vibe Shift
This week on Sinica, I welcome back Jeremy Goldkorn, co-founder of the show and my longtime co-host, to revisit the "vibe shift" we first discussed back in…
- Sinica Podcast
Lizzi Lee on Involution, Overcapacity, and China's Economic Model
This week on Sinica, I chat with Lizzi Lee, a fellow on the Chinese economy at the Asia Society Policy Institute and one of the sharpest China analysts working…
- Sinica Podcast
Foreign Affairs Editor Daniel Kurtz-Phelan on Shifting Views of China
This week on Sinica, I chat with Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, editor of Foreign Affairs, about how the journal has both shaped and reflected American discourse on…
- Sinica Podcast
The View from Behind Xi Jinping's Desk, with Jonathan Czin
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I speak with Jonathan Czin, the Michael H. Armacost Chair in Foreign Policy Studies and a fellow at the Brookings…
- Sinica Podcast
The Symbolism of the Flying Tigers: Peking University's Wang Dong on the American Volunteer Group and its Historical and Diplomatic Usages
This week on Sinica, I chat with Peking University's Professor Wang Dong (王栋), an international relations scholar at the School of International Studies at…
- Sinica Podcast
Jasmine Sun on Silicon Valley through a Chinese Mirror
This week on Sinica, co-host Tianyu Fang makes his debut on the show to join me in interviewing his Stanford classmate and talented writer Jasmine Sun, who…
- Sinica Podcast
Yascha Mounk on China and Western Liberalism
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I chat with well-known author and public intellectual Yascha Mounk about his recent fascination with China, his approach to…
- Sinica Podcast
What Did the September 3 Parade Mean?
This week on Sinica, I speak first with retired Senior Colonel Zhou Bo, a frequent commentator on Chinese military and security affairs and a prolific writer…
- Sinica Podcast
What Does China Want? The Authors of a New Paper Challenge the DC Consensus
This week on Sinica, I chat with Dave Kang (USC), Zenobia Chan (Georgetown), and Jackie Wong (American University in Sharjah, UAE) about their new paper in…
- Sinica Podcast
Trump's India Tariff Tirade: A Gift to Beijing? With Evan Feigenbaum
This week on the Sinica Podcast, I welcome back Evan Feigenbaum, Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Evan served for…
- Sinica Podcast
The Engineering State and the Lawyerly Society: Dan Wang on his new book "Breakneck"
This week on Sinica, I'm delighted to be joined by Dan Wang, formerly of Gavekal Dragonomics and the Paul Tsai Law Center at Yale University, now with the…
- Sinica Podcast
Chinese and U.S. AI Applications in Public Administration: Lessons and Implications for Ukraine
Artificial intelligence has been a frequent topic on Sinica in recent years — but usually through the lens of the two countries that have produced the leading…
- Sinica Podcast
Nuclear Weapons, Ukraine, and Great-Power Competition
Join me for a conversation with four fantastic panelists about nuclear safety and security issues brought on by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and…
- Sinica Podcast
The World AI Conference in Shanghai: Two tech veterans share their impressions
This week on Sinica, Paul Triolo of DGA Albright Stonebridge and tech investor Ryan Cunningham join to talk about their observations and insights from the…
- Sinica Podcast
Chinese Cooking Demystified: Chris Thomas and Stephanie Li visit Shaxi!
This week on Sinica: On my final two days in Shaxi in Yunnan, Chris Thomas and Stephanie Li, the hosts of the marvelous YouTube channel Chinese Cooking…
- Sinica Podcast
Adam Tooze Climbs the China Learning Curve
I'm in Shaxi, a wonderful little town in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, and I was joined here by the Columbia economic historian Adam Tooze, who shared…
- Sinica Podcast
Carnegie's Tong Zhao on the Expansion of China's Nuclear Arsenal
This week on Sinica, in a show taped in early June in Washington, Kaiser chats with Tong Zhao (赵通) of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a leading…
- Sinica Podcast
The Strange Afterlife of an American Football Story from China
In 2014, the writer Christopher Beam published a humorous, heartwarming story in The New Republic about an unlikely team of American football enthusiasts in…
- Sinica Podcast
The Raider: China and the Life of Evans Carlson, with Historian Stephen Platt
This week on Sinica, I chat with Stephen Platt, historian at UMass Amherst and author, most recently, of the book The Raider: The Untold Story of a Renegade…