Real Talk with J & Y

On top of many domestic crises including the COVID-19 Pandemic and a recessionary economy, the Biden Administration is soon going to confront many politically fraught challenges facing the U.S. foreign policy. We will see a change in tone and a stark departure from Trump's hard-power focused, America First, unilateral approach to dealing with global issues. Who is Tony Blinken and how is the Biden administration going to patch up a “new world disorder” created by Trump? Listen to part II of 2020 in Review.

This time last year, words like social distancing, lockdowns, masks, were so unfamiliar to most of us. Today they've become part of our everyday language as COVID-19 continues to impact all aspects of our lives. Listen to Jennifer and Yvonne sharing their perspectives on how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped the lives of two young college graduates and the ongoing challenges that our vaccination program faces.

This dialogue is a special preview of Episode 3 - COVID Impact on Education & Technology. Yvonne and Jennifer separately interviewed industry professionals who share their experiences navigating the turbulence and shock brought by an unprecedented public health crisis. Yvonne'16 interviewed Stephen Murray (Head of School of Lawrenceville) about its fall re-opening plan. They discussed the challenges to preserve the boarding school's greatest asset - a close-knit community built on interactions- while prioritizing health and safety. The pandemic has altered the way how schools deliver education. What changes are permanent? Can "virtual connectivity" replace relationships?

Responding to a recent border skirmish with China, India blocked 59 Chinese-owned mobile apps, citing concerns over data privacy and national security. In this episode, we conducted a mini case study, categorizing TikTok and others based on their functions and risks to individual users and society. As tech companies today find themselves directly entangled in the geopolitical relationships between major powers, we ask ourselves, should a forced divestiture of companies like Huawei and TikTok really take place? Does banning Chinese apps/networks tackle fundamental concerns over national security?

Approximately a year after Hong Kong's protests against the 2019 extradition bill and one day before the 23rd anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to China in 1997, Beijing unilaterally passed a new national security law directed at controlling political dissent. The law has broad political implications on every day lives of Hong Kong people, ranging from their freedom of speech and to the territory's special trading status. In the first episode of “Real Talk with J & Y,” Jennifer brings in her experiences working at Penn Biden Center in Washington DC and Yvonne examines the China-Hong Kong relationship from an economic perspective.