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 about her W

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 Publishing, out Oc

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 Studies at Joh

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 Mongolia,

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 her and her

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 to Beijing

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 technology and China

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 down with

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 the "pacing

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 the word “C

"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 our usual be

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 a multi-ye

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, which runs the

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 University Press, T

"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 Affairs (ACF) a

"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 Trump's plane

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, scholar, research

"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) at Johns Hop

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 consequential yet.

"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 (ACF) at J