Podcast appearances and mentions of emily feng

By now, you've heard a lot about how the U.S.-China trade war is affecting American consumers, businesses and the stock market. But how is the trade war being felt in China? Today on the show, two of NPR's in-house China experts, Emily Feng and John Ruwitch, explain the view from China. Related episodes: What might save China's economy (Apple / Spotify) Tarrified! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify) For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When it comes to China, most Americans are mostly in the dark. Don't believe me? Just quiz your friends. Ask them to name the five largest cities in China. Or to tell you the difference between people in Fujian and Sichuan, or Beijing and Guangzhou? Or how many cars China exported last year.  Is China's economy booming on the back of record exports or reeling from a property meltdown and tanking consumer confidence? How many of us can say we know for sure. How many of us are in regular communication with people in China? Here to fill the void is Emily Feng, author of a tremendous new book called Let Only Red Flowers Bloom. Ms Feng brings to life the joys and sorrows, advances and setbacks of ordinary people in China. And she explains why, under Xi Jinping, people are encouraged to bloom red. 

Sam Fenwick is joined by Emily Feng, International correspondent for NPR in Washington DC and Peter Landers, Asia Business and Finance Editor at Wall Street Journal in Singapore.China's president declared their will be no winners in the trade war as he tours Southeast Asia, aiming to strengthen ties with neighbouring nations. We hear how tariffs are shaping US consumer confidence and leading to potential drug shortages.Also in the programme, how do University Spin-Out Businesses boost the economy?

In this episode of Barbarians at the Gate, we talk with Emily Feng about her new book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China. Drawing on years of on-the-ground reporting for NPR, Emily paints a picture of how state control has intensified over recent years, reshaping Chinese society, politics, and culture. Emily explains how she wove together personal stories into the historical, cultural, and political contexts, offering insights into the lives of Uyghurs separated by detention camps, human rights lawyers battling censorship, Mongolian educators struggling to preserve their language, and ordinary citizens whose acts of remembrance have become quiet forms of resistance.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration says it sent another 10 alleged gang members to El Salvador, including some from the Tren de Aragua gang. NBC's David Noriega talks about where the gang comes from and why President Trump is targeting people he suspects are members. Then, NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep and NPR international correspondent Emily Feng discuss how China has changed over the past decade. And, pop star Katy Perry made her debut in space Monday as part of an all-female crew aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard Rocket. While Perry fans are over the moon, NPR's Neda Ulaby has her own ideas about which artists she'd like to see in space.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

NPR reporter Emily Feng lived in, and reported from, Beijing for years. But in 2022, the Chinese government told Feng, who was born in the United States to Chinese parents, that she couldn't return to the country. The experience prompted her to ask: What does it mean to be Chinese under Xi Jinping's government? Her new book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom explores this question through the lens of individuals who don't fit the government's ideal. In today's episode, Feng joins NPR's Ailsa Chang for a conversation about one of the central characters in the book, the way the Chinese government connects religion and ethnicity, and the personal impact of identity politics.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

With the recent arrest of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity, a spotlight is again on actions taken during his presidency. Even years after Duterte declared his war on drugs, the reverberations continue to tear through the country. The loved ones of those killed are still left seeking justice and the extra-judicial killings, commonly called EJKs, that defined Duterte's war continue to sow fear amongst the people.Today on The Sunday Story, we share an episode that originally aired last year with reporter Emily Feng. She traveled to the Philippines to understand the aftermath of Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The argument for international aid is in part a moral one, but it's also been about U.S. interests. As then-senator Marco Rubio put it in 2017: "I promise you it's going to be a lot harder to recruit someone to anti-Americanism, anti-American terrorism if the United States of America was the reason why they're even alive today."Now, as secretary of state, Rubio serves under a president who is deeply skeptical of the idea of international aid. "We're giving billions and billions of dollars to countries that hate us," President Trump said in a speech last month. His administration shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development. A federal judge said this week that move violated the constitution. What's left of the agency has been folded into the State Department.Trump has also moved to gut government-funded, editorially independent broadcasters like Voice of America, and attempted to effectively eliminate the congressionally-funded think tank the U.S. Institute of Peace.This sort of soft power has been a pillar of American foreign policy. Is the Trump administration walking away from it?We talk to former Democratic congressman and former secretary of agriculture, Dan Glickman, who sponsored the legislation that created the USIP. And NPR's Emily Feng reports on the legacy of Voice of America in China.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Send us a textLet's bloom! NPR Correspondent Emily Feng joins me to talk her book Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China. I learned a lot and hope you do, too. Come listen!Buy Let Only Red Flowers BloomCheck out Emily's WebsiteSupport the show

This week, NüVoices co-founder and host Joanna Chiu spoke to returning guest Emily Feng about her new book, Let Only Red Flowers Bloom: Identity and Belonging in Xi Jinping's China. In this episode, Emily and Joanna discuss her recent reporting trip to Syria, how her waiting at the Beijing Airport inspired her to write a book about identity in China, and how important the idea of being Chinese is to non-Chinese people and government policies. Emily also talks about her approach to journalism and why she insists on revealing the soft sides of Chinese people who went through some most challenging and difficult events in the wake of censorship and government control.

The U.S. State Department said it would stop publishing global air pollution data as part of attempts to shrink federal spending. The program set a worldwide standard for measuring air quality. NPR's Emily Feng reports. Support NPR and hear every episode sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Kash Patel was confirmed as the new FBI director yesterday despite questions about his qualifications. The vote was the narrowest in recent memory with two Republicans joining the Democrats in voting "no." Then, Donald Trump is undertaking efforts to slash federal government spending, which includes international pro-democracy and human rights groups. Is China moving in to fill the vacuum the U.S. leaves behind? This episode: political correspondents Ashley Lopez and Susan Davis, justice correspondent Ryan Lucas, international correspondent Emily Feng, and senior editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. The podcast is produced by Bria Suggs & Kelli Wessinger, and edited by Casey Morell. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Syria is reinventing itself following a 14-year bloody civil war and the rapid crumbling of the regime of Bashar Al-Assad regime in December. As NPR's Emily Feng travelled the country reporting on the new Syria, she kept seeing one man's face on flags, posters and vehicles everywhere she went. So, she decided to find out more about him.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups. Many haven't been heard from in years, and more still are desperately searching for their families. Western governments have called this crackdown a cultural genocide and a possible crime against humanity.In this episode, the first of a three-part series from Embedded, NPR correspondent Emily Feng tells the story of one of those people. For years, a Uyghur man named Abdullatif Kucar had no idea what has happened to his wife and young children after they were detained by Chinese authorities. Emilly follows Kucar as he desperately searches for his family.But this story is bigger than one family. In this series, Emily also travels across Asia and dives into decades of history to uncover the massive Chinese surveillance of Uyghurs, getting exclusive interviews with the people suffering from that surveillance and the people upholding it – who sometimes are one and the same.This episode was originally published in 2022. To hear the whole series, head to https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510311/embedded.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As NPR correspondent Emily Feng reported in our three-part series "The Black Gate," hundreds of thousands of Uyghur people have been detained in China. They've been subjected to torture, forced labor, religious restrictions, and even forced sterilization. In this episode from 2021, our colleagues at the history podcast Throughline explore who the Uyghur people are, their land, their customs, their music and how they've become such a target in China today. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

As NPR correspondent Emily Feng reported on the Kucar family, she encountered a mysterious figure working to keep her sources from speaking out. Later, she meets another Uyghur man who - perhaps unwillingly - becomes an actor within China's systems of control. These men are accused of working to silence others, but they say they've found themselves silenced as well. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This is the story of a people being erased, one family at a time. For almost a decade, the Chinese government has been detaining hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uyghurs in what critics call a systematic attempt to dismantle their culture. And since the beginning, NPR correspondent Emily Feng has reported on these detentions, which were described by the United Nations as possibly constituting crimes against humanity. In this three-part series, Emily follows one man desperately trying to reunite with his wife and children. Along the way, she uncovers surprising new details about some of the Uyghurs enabling this massive surveillance state. To listen to this series sponsor-free and support NPR, sign up for Embedded+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

President-elect Donald Trump made significant gains among Latino communities during the 2024 election. MSNBC contributor Julio Ricardo Varela explains why. And, Trump will face multiple foreign policy challenges in his second term. NPR's Emily Feng in Beijing, Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv, Charles Maynes in Tblisi, Georgia, and Eyder Peralta in Mexico City join us. Then, forget about the Red Delicious. We are living in a golden age of apples with more than 20 different varieties available at grocery stores. David Bedford, an apple researcher at the University of Minnesota, joins us.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the Xinjiang region of western China, the government has rounded up and detained at least hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other Muslim ethnic groups. Many haven't been heard from in years, and others are still desperately searching for their families. Western governments have called this crackdown a cultural genocide and a possible crime against humanity. NPR Correspondent Emily Feng has been reporting on Uyghurs inside and outside of China for years. In this episode, she profiles two Uyghur men who have found themselves sometimes unwilling actors within the Chinese state's systems of control over Uyghurs. As they work to silence others, they sometimes find themselves silenced as well. Additional Context: Listen to Emily Feng's 2022 reporting, "The Black Gate: A Uyghur Family's Story" part one and part two. For more on the history of the Uyghur people, listen to the episode "Five Fingers Crush The Land" from NPR's Throughline podcast.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Foreign correspondent Peter Hessler taught in China during the country's economic boom in the 1990s, which he wrote about in his book River Town. Now, in Other Rivers, Hessler breaks down what it was like to teach there again more than two decades later. In today's episode, he and NPR international correspondent Emily Feng talk about what changed — and what stayed the same — with a new generation of students in China and how covering the country remains a challenge for so many writers and journalists. To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookofthedayLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We begin the show with Hollywood where the future of media giant Paramount Global is uncertain after billionaire Shari Redstone, who holds a controlling share in the company, ended negotiations for a potential merger with Skydance Media. Paramount's shares have consequently dropped by more than 8%. The decision to end the talks comes after a sales process that many in the industry have described as chaotic. Away from showbiz, Mexico is grappling with their currency value after the country elected its first female president Claudia Sheinbaum. Her controversial plans to overhaul the judiciary by directly electing top judges has caused the peso to fall 2% against the dollar. It's lost about 8% since her victory on June 2nd but is a recovery on the horizon? Sam Fenwick finds out why the markets are so concerned about the reforms.And, we look at how Taiwan is wrestling through an energy crunch to remain the world's semiconductor powerhouse – but is there enough energy and electricity for chipmakers to sustain its demand?[IMAGE CREDIT: REUTERS]We speak to our guests Emily Feng in Taiwan - she is the NPR international correspondent - and Yves Hayaux du Tilly, lawyer and partner with Nader, Hayaux & Goebel in Mexico City. They advise companies on their business in Mexico and Latin America.

In the landmark bipartisan foreign aid package that passed earlier this year, there was money for two allies in ongoing military conflicts: Israel and Ukraine. But there was also money for the Indo-Pacific region. So why is the U.S. interested in the region and how is Taiwan involved?This episode: political correspondent Susan Davis, defense correspondent Tom Bowman, and foreign correspondent Emily Feng.The podcast is produced by Jeongyoon Han, Casey Morell and Kelli Wessinger. Our intern is Bria Suggs. Our editor is Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

"They can just kill anyone."Since 2016, thousands have been killed in the Philippines' war on drugs. The bloody campaign began under the Philippines' last president, Rodrigo Duterte, who said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts in the country. When current president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office in 2022, he promised to end this spree of state-sanctioned killings of alleged drug users and sellers, and focus on rehabilitation instead.In today's episode of The Sunday Story, NPR's Emily Feng travels to the Philippines to see what has come of Marcos' attempt to burnish the country's international reputation and to put an end to what most people in the Philippines now refer to as EJKs, or "extrajudicial killings." She found that the killings have continued. And she spoke to researchers, doctors, advocates, and victims' families to try to understand why.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It is rare that a new e-commerce company has such a meteoric rise as Temu. The company, which launched in the fall of 2022, has been flooding the American advertising market, buying much of the inventory of Facebook, Snapchat, and beyond. According to the market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, Temu is one of the most downloaded iPhone apps in the country, with around 50 million monthly active users.On today's show, we go deep on Temu: How does it work, how did it manage such a quick rise in the U.S., and what hints might it offer us about the future of retail? Plus, we'll talk to the bicycle-loving U.S. Representative who is working to shut down a loophole that has proved very helpful to Temu's swift ascent. This episode was hosted by Nick Fountain and Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi with reporting from Emily Feng. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Keith Romer, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Saturday, the Taiwanese people vote for a new president. It's one of the most important and closely-watched elections around the world this year. While most of the world – including the United States – does not officially recognize Taiwan as an independent country, they are watching the results.On New Year's Eve, Chinese leader Xi Jinping said China would "surely be reunified" with Taiwan – reiterating Beijing's aspiration to one day control Taiwan. Caught in the middle of this are the island's people.NPR's Ailsa Chang and Emily Feng spent some time with one family who don't agree on what it means to be Taiwanese.Email us at considerthis@npr.org

As China's economy slows and optimism fades, aging workers who've spent decades of their lives building up Chinese cities find themselves in a difficult position. They're facing mandated retirement, but have little to show for years of backbreaking work.In this episode of The Sunday Story, NPR correspondent Emily Feng tells the story of migrant workers in China, and brings us the voices of two construction workers who labored in hopes of achieving the Chinese dream, but found it out of reach. Now they wonder: how will they survive in old age?

The presidents of the US and China are meeting in person for the first time in a year, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group summit in San Francisco. We consider what could be on the agenda. Sales of electric vehicles remain strong despite the reduction in public incentives to buy them. We find out why. And we go to Wales to hear how the rise in shoplifting incidents is impacting a supermarket chain. Rahul Tandon discusses these and more business stories with two guests on opposite sides of the world: NPR's Emily Feng in Taipei and Cleo Capital's managing director Sarah Kunst in San Francisco. (Picture: U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they meet on the sidelines of the G20 leaders' summit in Bali, Indonesia, November 14, 2022.Picture credit: Reuters)

Asia correspondent Emily Feng has been following the story of embattled property developer Evergrande, as the chairman is placed under police surveillance, with the exact reasons unclear. The developer has been at the centre of a liquidity crisis in China's property sector, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the economy. And in Taiwan, tensions are rising amid questions of disinformation in the run-up to the January presidential elections. Emily Feng is an international correspondent for NPR covering China, Taiwan and beyond.

Earlier this week John Kerry, the US special envoy on climate, arrived in China to revive efforts to combat global warming. It's the first substantive meeting of the world's two largest carbon emitters since relations froze last August. Sam Fenwick is joined by Alexander Kaufman, senior reporter at HuffPost, in New York and Emily Feng, NPR's International Correspondent covering China and Taiwan. (Picture: US Climate Envoy John Kerry and China's Premier Li Qiang (R) shake hands before a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on July 18, 2023. Picture Credit: Getty Images).

China correspondent Emily Feng talks about Chinese leader Xi Jinping's offer, on a call with the Ukrainian President, to facilitate peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his trip to China after the U.S. spotted a Chinese surveillance balloon near a military base in Montana. The Air Force popped the balloon off the coast of South Carolina over the weekend. Blinken's meeting with President Xi Jinping would have been first high-level visit to the country by a U.S. official in more than five years.This episode: White House correspondent Tamara Keith, China correspondent Emily Feng, and congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh.This episode was produced by Elena Moore and Casey Morell. It was edited by Eric McDaniel. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi. Research and fact-checking by Devin Speak.Unlock access to this and other bonus content by supporting The NPR Politics Podcast+. Sign up via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Connect:Email the show at nprpolitics@npr.orgJoin the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.

While some countries are seeing their populations decline and grow older, others are growing fast. That has economic implications. Could migration help?NPR's Emily Feng reports on the long term consequences of China's shrinking population.We also hear from Lant Pritchett, research director with the think tank Labor Mobility Partnerships, about the ways in which migration could help tackle population imbalances. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

In China, huge numbers of people are expected to travel and gather with family this weekend for the start of the Lunar New Year, just as the country experiences a major surge in COVID infections. NPR's Emily Feng reports that the holiday may be bittersweet for some. We also hear reporting from NPR's Wynne Davis, who collected recipes to help ring in the Lunar New Year.And in Ukraine, many Orthodox Christians marked the feast of the Epiphany on Thursday by plunging into the frigid waters of the Dnipro River. NPR's Elissa Nadworny talked to some of the brave swimmers, who said that this year the ritual felt like a needed respite from the ongoing war.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Emily Feng, NPR's Beijing correspondent discusses anti lockdown protests in China.

This week, China's Communist Party Congress is expected to approve a historic third term in office for the country's leader, Xi Jinping. Xi has already been in power for a decade, a period marked by growing authoritarianism in China. Many experts believe he could emerge a more emboldened leader in his new term. Ailsa Chang speaks with Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, about the global implications of a third term for Xi Jinping and how this signals a new era for China. And NPR's Emily Feng reports on how little we know about the way China's Communist Party Congress makes its decisions.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

We're kicking off our fall 2022 season with a special conversation between Emily Feng of NPR and Joanna Chiu, NüVoices chair and co-founder.  In this episode, Emily walks us through her hard-hitting reporting from the frontlines in Ukraine to a viral controversy surrounding her radio report on 螺螄粉 luósīfěn, snail noodles.  Emily also discusses the beginning of her journalism career in China—from freelancing, landing a job at the Financial Times, and eventually becoming NPR's Beijing correspondent in 2019, where she is still based today. We also get a behind-the-scenes look at how Emily reported her Rough Translation episode on  丧文化, the sang subculture, which took the Chinese internet by storm last year. (Check out your podcast feed where we crossposted this episode on August 24th, 2022. A special thank you NPR and Rough Translation!) 

We're proud to present our last summer cross post with NPR's Rough Translation! In this episode, host Gregory Warner talks to reporter Emily Feng about the rise of anti-work culture in China. While you may have heard about the term 躺平 or "lying flat", Emily delves into 丧文化, or the sang subculture, which embodies cynicism and defeatism in response to China's particular flavor of late-stage capitalism. Later in the episode, Emily discusses how the Chinese government is trying to stamp out the anti-work vibes by using an internet star to shift the narrative. This episode is part of Rough Translation's special @Work series.  ***We're proud to announce our new podcast producers who've joined our team! Saga Ringmar (@saga_ringmar) is our new senior producer and Lauren Lau (@laurenflau) is our new associate producer. Learn more about Saga and Lauren at nuvoices.com 

This week: far from standing down in the Taiwan Strait, China has pledged to regularly patrol the area and remain ready for combat. How might this aggressive stance play out in the wake of Nancy Pelosi's visit, and what position should the United States take in plotting a path forward? Then, elections in Kenya and what low turnout means for the future of democracy. Joining us – Emily Feng of NPR, Nirmal Ghosh of The Straits Times, and James Harding of Tortoise Media Like this episode? Leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts.

A key 9/11 plotter, Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed on July 30, according to President Joe Biden. The president said that no one else was hurt in the strike, including al-Zawahiri's family.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visits Taiwan today, She is the highest-ranking elected American official to visit Taiwan since then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997. The island democracy governs itself, but China claims it as its territory and the speaker's visit has heightened tensions with the Chinese government in Beijing.This episode: politics reporter Miles Parks, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales, and China correspondent Emily Feng.Connect:Email the show at nprpolitics@npr.orgJoin the NPR Politics Podcast Facebook Group.Subscribe to the NPR Politics Newsletter.

Why are right-wing think tanks trying to become churches? We learn more with ProPublica's Andrea Suozzo. And, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lands in Taiwan Tuesday, against the advice of the White House and to the upset of Chinese officials. NPR's Emily Feng gives us the update.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has used possible NATO expansion to justify invading Ukraine. Now, that invasion might expand the alliance. Finland and Sweden, both formerly neutral Russian neighbors, are applying for membership. NPR's Steve Inskeep speaks with Finland's ambassador to the U.S., Mikko Hautala, about the stakes of his country's bid to join.NPR's Emily Feng also talks to historian Mary Elise Sarotte about how we reached this impasse between NATO and Russia.You can also hear — and see — more on how war games and Russia's invasion of Ukraine are impacting life in Norway from NPR's Quil Lawrence here.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Cases of COVID-19 have been surging throughout China. The country has implemented a stringent "zero-COVID" strategy that includes mass testing, limited travel and large-scale lockdowns. In Shanghai, many residents haven't been able to leave their homes. It's an eerie reminder of the lockdowns in Wuhan during the first year of the pandemic. NPR's international correspondent Rob Schmitz spoke with two residents of a housing complex in Shanghai about their experiences with the city's lockdown.There are some people who are leaving their homes – mainly to enforce China's "zero-COVID" plan. China has hired tens of thousands of temporary workers to test, isolate and lock down entire cities.Beijing correspondent Emily Feng spoke to a few of those workers, many of whom are poorly treated and underpaid. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

China has found itself in a predicament ever since President Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine a month ago today. President Xi Jinping has stated China's neutral stance on the war but when it comes to the coverage of the invasion, the Chinese media has mostly aired pro-Russia propaganda and disinformation while often censoring pro-Ukraine information.Emily Feng, NPR's Beijing correspondent, joins Doug to unpack China's perspective on the unfolding Russia-Ukraine crisis.Face the Nation. Chinese ambassador says condemning Russia for Ukraine invasion "doesn't solve the problem" [Video]. YouTube.Qin Gang. Opinion: Chinese ambassador: Where we stand on Ukraine. Washington Post.

The war in Ukraine continues. In Turkey, a proposal aimed at bringing that war to an end was discussed by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia's Vladimir Putin - we have reaction from Ukraine's deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna. Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to the German parliament on Thursday in an effort to build support for tougher action against Russia. Germany relies on Russian gas, oil and coal and is still paying the Kremlin hundreds of millions of dollars a day - we speak to Tagesspiegel's energy journalist Jakob Schlandt and hear from Lord Browne, former chief executive at BP. The war is taking a toll on the global economy too and the OECD has given its first assessment of the likely damage. Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD, tells us more. The BBC's Frey Lindsay looks at how climate change is threatening lives and livelihoods on islands in the South Pacific, and Spotify gets into the NFT space, as investor and enthusiast Peta Cooper explains. Throughout the programme Jon Bithrey is joined by Alexander Kaufman, senior reporter at Huffpost in New York and by Emily Feng, Beijing correspondent for NPR. Photo: Zelensky address the Bundestag Credit: EPA

Foreign press correspondents reporting in China experience a host of challenges—and not just because of the Covid-19 pandemic and China's rigorous “zero COVID” policy. As the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China's recently released annual report on media freedom details, foreign journalists in China are encountering increasingly stringent visa restrictions, harassment, surveillance, and risk of expulsion or even arrest.  Emily Feng joins Bonnie Glaser on China Global to discuss the challenges facing reporters in China today, as well as trends in Chinese society and Xi Jinping's first ten years in power. Emily is NPR's Beijing Correspondent after having previously worked for the Financial Times. She covers everything from semiconductors to girl bands and Chinese coal mines and has earned many awards, including a Human Rights Press Award and a Gracie Award for her coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Vladimir Putin has recognised the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. In a televised address, the Russian president said Donetsk and Luhansk were ancient Russian territories, and described Ukraine's government as a puppet regime controlled by foreign powers. We hear the thoughts of Washington Post correspondent Mary Ilyushina in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, and Chris Weafer from analytics firm Macro-Advisory Ltd gives us his take on the potential economic fallout if tensions in the region increase further. Plus, UK prime minister Boris Johnson says England's remaining Covid laws will be abandoned, telling parliament it's time to rely on vaccinations and treatments, rather than government intervention. We speak to Kate Nicholls of UKHospitality, on how a sector which has suffered during almost two years of restrictions is hoping for a rebound. The BBC's Sarah Hawkins reports on plans afoot in Sacramento, California to give everybody the legal right to housing, and how such an idea might work in practice.Throughout the programme we are joined by Emily Feng, Beijing Correspondent for NPR radio and by Professor Peter Morici from the University of Maryland. (Photo: Residents of Donetsk celebrate after Russia recognised the territory's independence; Credit: Getty Images)

If you've been watching the Beijing Winter Olympics, you've likely seen a Connecticut local compete and succeed. But there's one local connection you may not have noticed. This hour, we learn more about the NBC Sports International Broadcast Center in Stamford, where many of the announcers you see and hear are stationed, like commentator Leigh Diffey. Connecticut Public Reporter Frankie Graziano has more on the many Connecticut connections among this year's roster of Olympian athletes. Plus, NPR Beijing correspondent Emily Feng joins us to touch on "the backdrop of diplomatic boycotts over numerous allegations of human rights abuses in China," and her latest reporting. GUESTS: Leigh Diffey – Broadcaster, NBC Sports Frankie Graziano – Reporter, Connecticut Public Emily Feng – Beijing Correspondent, NPR Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Notes:This episode's guest is David Rennie, the Beijing bureau chief for The Economist and author of the weekly Chaguan column. Our topic is online discourse, nationalism, the intensifying contest for global discourse power and US-China relations.Excerpts:I spoke to some very serious NGO people who've been in China a long time, Chinese and foreigners who said that this was the worst time for NGOs since 1989, and the kind of mentions of espionage and national security was a very serious thing. So then I had to make a decision, was I going to try and speak to someone like Sai Lei. Clearly he is an extremely aggressive nationalist, some would call him a troll and there are risks involved in talking to someone like him. But I felt, I'm one of the few English language media still in China, if I'm going to add value, I need to speak to these people.I had a very interesting conversation with a CGTN commentator…He said, I can't tell you how many Western diplomats, or Western journalists they whine. And they moan. And they say, how aggressive China is now and how upset all this Wolf warrior stuff is and how China is doing itself damage. And he goes, we're not, it's working. You in the Western media, used to routinely say that the national people's Congress was a rubber stamp parliament. And because we went after you again and again, you see news organizations no longer as quick to use that. Because we went after you calling us a dictatorship, you're now slower to use that term because we went after you about human rights and how it has different meanings in different countries. We think it's having an effect…One of the things I think is a value of being here is you have these conversations where the fact that we in the West think that China is inevitably making a mistake by being much more aggressive. I don't think that's how a big part of the machine here sees it. I think they think it worked….To simplify and exaggerate a bit, I think that China, and this is not just a guess, this is based on off the record conversations with some pretty senior Chinese figures, they believe that the Western world, but in particular, the United States is too ignorant and unimaginative and Western centric, and probably too racist to understand that China is going to succeed, that China is winning and that the West is in really decadent decline…I think that what they believe they are doing is delivering an educational dose of pain and I'm quoting a Chinese official with the word pain. And it is to shock us because we are too mule headed and thick to understand that China is winning and we are losing. And so they're going to keep delivering educational doses of pain until we get it…The fundamental message and I'm quoting a smart friend of mine in Beijing here is China's rise is inevitable. Resistance is futile…And if you accommodate us, we'll make it worth your while. It's the key message. And they think that some people are proving dimmer and slower and more reluctant to pick that message up and above all Americans and Anglo-Saxons.On US-China relations:The general trend of U.S. China relations. to be of optimistic about the trend of U.S. China relations I'd have to be more optimistic than I currently am about the state of U.S. Politics. And there's a kind of general observation, which is that I think that American democracy is in very bad shape right now. And I wish that some of the China hawks in Congress, particularly on the Republican side, who are also willing to imply, for example, that the 2020 election was stolen, that there was massive fraud every time they say that stuff, they're making an in-kind contribution to the budget of the Chinese propaganda department…You cannot be a patriotic American political leader and tell lies about the state of American democracy. And then say that you are concerned about China's rise…..their message about Joe Biden is that he is weak and old and lacks control of Congress. And that he is, this is from scholars rather than officials, I should say, but their view is, why would China spend political capital on the guy who's going to lose the next election?…The one thing that I will say about the U.S. China relationship, and I'm very, very pessimistic about the fact that the two sides, they don't share a vision of how this ends well.Links:China’s online nationalists turn paranoia into clickbait | The Economist 赛雷：我接受了英国《经济学人》采访，切身体验了深深的恶意 David Rennie on Twitter @DSORennieTranscript:You may notice a couple of choppy spots. We had some Beijing-VPN issues and so had to restart the discussion three times. Bill:Hi, everyone. Welcome back to the `Sinocism podcast. It's been a bit of a break, but we are back and we will continue going forward on a fairly regular schedule today. For the fourth episode, I'm really happy to be able to chat with David Rennie, the Beijing bureau chief for The Economist and author of the weekly Chaguan column. Our topic today is online discourse, nationalism, and the intensifying contest for global discourse power.Bill:I've long been a fan of David's work and the approximate cause for inviting him to join the podcast today was an article on the January 8th issue of The Economist on online nationalism. Welcome David.David:Hello.Bill:So just to start, could you tell us how you got to where you are today?David:I've been a foreign correspondent for frighteningly long time, 24 years. And it's my second China posting. I've been out there so long. I've done two Chinas, two Washingtons, five years in Brussels. I was here in the '90s and then I went off, spent a total of nine years in Washington, DC. And then I came back here in 2018 and I was asked to launch a new column about China called Chaguan, because previously I wrote our Lexington column and our Bagehot column about Britain and our Charlemagne column about Europe. They all have strange names, but that's what we do. And so this is my fourth column for The Economist.Bill:We last met, I think in 2018 in Beijing in what seems like before times in many ways at The Opposite House, I believe.David:And the days when we had visitors, people came from the outside world, all of those things.Bill:Yes. You are quite the survivor, as they say. Although there are advantages to not worry about walking outside and getting sick all the time. Although it's better here in DC now.David:It's a very safe bubble. It's a very large bubble, but it's a bubble.Bill:So let's talk about your article, the January 8th issue. It was titled “China's online nationalist turned paranoia into click bait”. And I thought it was a very good distillation of the surge in nationalists and anti foreign content that is really flooding or was flooded the internet in China. And you interviewed one of the people who's profiting from it because it turns out that not only is it good from a sort of a sentiment perspective, but it's also good from a business perspective.Bill:And that person Sai Lei, interestingly enough, then recorded your conversation and turned it into a whole new post and video about the whole experience of talking to a foreign correspondent. Can you tell us a little about the story and why you chose to write it and just to add the links to David's article and the Sai Lei article will be in the podcast notes.David:So I heard from friends and colleagues, a couple of things in two directions. One was that in the world of private sector media, a couple of reasonably well known explainer sites, popular science video companies had been taken out of business by nationalist attacks. One was called Paperclip, the other called Elephant Union. And their crime in the eyes of online nationalists had been to talk about things which are fairly uncontroversial in Western media, that eating beef from the Amazon or eating beef that is fed soy grown in the Amazon is potentially bad for the rainforest and maybe we should eat less meat.David:But because this was in the Chinese context, that China is the biggest buyer of soybeans, this explainer video was attacked as a plot to deny the Chinese people the protein that they need to be strong, that this was a race traitor attack on the Chinese. And it was outrageous because the West eats so much more meat than China. And so that was one element of it. And I heard that these companies had been shut down. The other was that I'd been picking up that this was an extremely bad time for NGOs, particularly Chinese NGOs that get money from overseas. And we'd seen some really nasty attacks, not just on the idea that they were getting money from overseas, but that they were somehow guilty of espionage.David:And there was an NGO that did incredibly benign work. Tracking maritime and Marine trash, as it floats around the coasts of China based in Shanghai, Rendu Ocean. I'd done a column on them the year before I'd been out with their volunteers. It was a bunch of pensioners and retirees and school kids picking up styrofoam and trash off beaches, weighing it, tracking where it came from and then uploading this data to try and track the fact that China is a big generator of the plastic and other trash in the oceans. They were accused of espionage and taking foreign money to track ocean currents that would help foreign militaries, attack China, that they were guilty of grave national security crimes.David:And they were attacked in a press conference, including at the national defense ministry. And they're basically now in a world of pain. They're still just about clinging on. And so these two things, you have these NGOs under really serious attack, and you also have this attack on online explainer videos. The common theme was that the nationalist attack, they were somehow portraying the country and its national security was a weird combination of not just the security forces, but also private sector, Chinese online nationalists. And in particularly I was told there was a guy called Sai Lei. That's his non to plume who was one of the people making videos taking on these people. He went after celebrities who talked about China should be more careful about eating seafood.David:This was again, sort of race traitors. And he was using this really horrible language about these celebrities who talked about eating more sustainable seafood that they were ‘er guizi”, which is this time about the collaborationist police officers who worked with the Japanese during the World War II. He calls them Hanjian, the s-called traitors to the Chinese race. Very, very loaded language. Went after a group that’s working with Africans down in the south of China, talking about how they faced discrimination. This got them attacked. They had talked also about the role of Chinese merchants in the illegal ivory trade that got them attacked by the nationalists.David:So I thought this question of whether the government is behind this or whether this is a private sector attack on that. There's the profits to be made from this online nationalism struck me something I should write about. So I talked to some of the people whose organizations and companies had been taken down, they were very clear that they thought that was a unholy nexus of profit, clickbait and things like the communist youth league really liking the way that they can turbocharge some of these attacks-Bill:Especially on bilibili, they use that a lot.David:Especially on... Yeah. And so there's this weird sort of sense that, and I spoke to some very serious NGO people who've been in China a long time, Chinese and foreigners who said that this was the worst time for NGOs since 1989, and the kind of mentions of espionage and national security was a very serious thing. So then I had to make a decision, was I going to try and speak to someone like Sai Lei. Clearly he is an extremely aggressive nationalist, some would call him a troll and there are risks involved in talking to someone like him. But I felt, I'm one of the few English language media still in China, if I'm going to add value, I need to speak to these people.David:Yes. And so I reached out to the founder of a big, well known nationalist website who I happen to know. And I said, do you know this guy Sai Lei? And he said, I do, I'll get in touch with him. Sai Lei was very, very anxious about speaking to the Western media. Thought I was going to misquote him. And so eventually we did this deal that he was going to record the whole thing. And that if he thought I had misquoted him, that he was going to run the entire transcript on full on this other very well known nationalist website that had made the introduction. So I said, okay, fine. I have nothing to hide. That's all good. I wrote the column. I quoted Sai Lei. I didn't quote a tremendous amount of Sai Lei because what he said was not especially revealing.David:He was just an extremely paranoid guy. And there was a lot of whataboutism and he was saying, well, how would the American public react if they were told that what they eat damages the Amazon rainforest? And I said, well, they're told that all the time-Bill:All the time.David:It was an incredibly familiar argument. It's on the front page of America newspapers all the time. And so he wasn't willing to engage. And so, I ran this. He then put out this attack on me. It's fair. Look, I make a living handing out my opinions. I knew he was recording me, was it a bit disappointing that he cut and edited it to make me sound as bad as possible rather than running the full transcript. I mean, I interviewed a troll and that was the thing. He attacked me on the basis of my family, which then triggered a whole bunch of stuff that was pretty familiar to me, a lot of wet and journalists get a lot of attacks and it was an unpleasant experience, but I feel that the added value of being here is to talk to people, who The Economist does not agree with.David:And his fundamental problem was that I was using online as a disapproving time. But my line with people like him, or with some of the very prominent nationalists online academics, media entrepreneurs, also with the Chinese foreign ministry, when I'm called in is my job in China is to try to explain how China sees the world. To speak to people in China to let their voices be heard in The Economist. And I absolutely undertake to try and reflect their views faithfully, but I do not promise to agree with them, because The Economist does not hide the fact that we are a Western liberal newspaper. We're not anti-China, we are liberal. And so, if we see illiberall things happening in Abu Ghraib or in Guantanamo Bay or-Bill:DC.David:Being done by Donald Trump or being done by Boris Johnson or Brexit, or Viktor Orbán or in China, we will criticize them because we are what we say we are. We are a liberal newspaper. We have been since 1843. And what's interesting is that online, the reaction was... For a while, I was trending on Bilibili. And that was new. And I take that on the chin. I mean, I'm here, I'm attacking nationalists. They're going to attack back. I think what's interesting is that the online of nationalist attacks were, I hope that the ministry of state security arrest this guy, he should be thrown out of China. Why is he in China? They should be expelled. This guy has no right to be in China.David:I think that at some level, some parts of the central government machinery do still see a value to having newspapers like The Economist, reasonably well read Western media in China. And it's this conversation I've had a lot with the foreign ministry, with the State Council Information Office, which is as you know, it's the front name plate for the propaganda bureau. And I say to them, we are liberals.David:We are not anti-China any more than we're anti-American because we criticize Donald Trump, but you know where we're coming from, but I do believe that if China is concerned about how it's covered, if they throw all of us out, they're not going to get better coverage. I mean, some of the most aggressive coverage about China in the states comes from journalists who never go to China and economists who never go to China. And I think that, that argument resonates with some parts of the machine, to the people whose job is to deal with people like me.David:What I worry about is that there are other parts of the machine, whether it's the Communist Youth League or whether it's the ministry of state security or some other elements in the machine who do also see a tremendous value in delegitimizing Western media full stop, because if you're being criticized and you don't enjoy it. Tactic number one, whether you are Donald Trump talking about fake news, or Vladimir Putin talking about hostile foreign forces, or the Chinese is to delegitimize your critics.David:And I do think that that is going on in a way that in the four years that I've been here this time. And if, I think back to my time here 20 years ago, I do think the attempts to go after and intimidate and delegitimize the Western media they're getting more aggressive and they're trying new tactics, which are pretty concerning.Bill:So that's a great segue into the next question. But first, I just want to ask the nationalist website that you said ran Sai Lei's piece that was Guancha.cn?David:Yeah. And so it's probably not secret, but so I know a bit, Eric Li, Li Shimo, the co-founder Guancha.Bill:Eric actually famous for his TED Talk, went to Stanford business school, venture capitalist. And now, I guess he's affiliated with Fudan, And is quite an active funder of all sorts of online discourse it seems among other things.David:That's right. And I would point out that The Economist, we have this by invitation online debate platform and we invite people to contribute. And we did in fact, run a piece by Eric Li, the co-founder of Guancha, the nationalist website a couple of weeks before this attack, that Guancha ran. And I actually had debate with some colleagues about this, about whether as liberals, we're the suckers that allow people who attack us to write, he wrote a very cogent, but fairly familiar argument about the performance legitimacy, the communist party and how that was superior to Western liberal democracy.David:And I think that it's the price of being a liberal newspaper. If we take that seriously, then we occasionally have to give a platform to people who will then turn around and attack us. And if I'm going to live in China and not see of my family for a very long period of time, and it's a privilege to live in China, but there are costs. If you are an expert, then I'm not ready to give up on the idea of talking to people who we strongly disagree with. If I'm going to commit to living here to me the only reason to do that is so you talk to people, not just liberals who we agree with, but people who strongly disagree with us.Bill:No. And I think that's right. And I think that also ties in for many years, predating Xi Jinping there's been this long stated goal for China to increase its global discourse power as they call it. And to spread more the tell the truth, tell the real story, spread more positive energy about China globally instead of having foreign and especially Western, or I think, and this ties into some of the national stuff increasing what we hear is called the Anglo-Saxons media dominate the global discourse about China. And to be fair, China has a point. I mean, there should be more Chinese voices talking about China globally.Bill:That's not an unreasonable desire, or request from a country as big and powerful as China is. One thing that seems like a problem is on the one hand you've got, the policy makers are pushing to improve and better control discourse about China globally. At the same time, they're increasing their control over the domestic discourse inside the PRC about the rest of the world. And so in some ways, yes, there's an imbalance globally, but there's also a massive imbalance domestically, which seems to fit into what you just went through with Sai Lei and where the trends are. I don't know. I mean, how does China tell a more convincing story to the world in a way that isn't just a constant struggle to use the term they actually use, but more of an actual fact based honest discussion, or is that something that we're just not going to see anytime soon?David:I think there's a couple of elements to that. I mean, you are absolutely right that China like any country has the right to want to draw the attention of the world to stuff that China does. That's impressive. And I do think, one of my arguments when I talk to Chinese officials as to why they should keep giving out visas to people like me is, when I think back to the beginning of the COVID pandemic, I've not left China for more than two years. I've not left since the pandemic began, you had a lot of media writing that this incredibly ferocious crackdown was going to be very unpopular with the Chinese public. And that's because of the very beginning you had people, there lots of stuff on Chinese social media, little videos of people being beaten up by some [inaudible 00:16:26] in a village or tied to a tree, or their doors being welded shot.David:And it did look unbelievably thuggish. And people playing Majiang being arrested. But actually about three weeks into the pandemic, and I was traveling outside Beijing and going to villages and then coming back and doing the quarantine, you'd go into these villages in the middle of Henan or Hunan. And you'd have the earth bomb at the entrance to the village and all the old guys in the red arm bands. And the pitchforks and the school desk, or the entrance to the village with a piece of paper, because you got to have paperwork as well. And you've realized that this incredibly strict grassroots control system that they'd put in motion, the grid management, the fact that the village loud speakers were back up and running and broadcasting propaganda was actually a source of comfort.David:That it gave people a sense that they could do something to keep this frightening disease at bay. And I think to me, that's an absolute example that it's in China's interest to have Western journalists in China because it was only being in China that made me realize that this strictness was actually welcomed by a lot of Chinese people. It made them feel safe and it made them feel that they were contributing to a national course by locking themselves indoors and obeying these sometimes very strange and arbitrary rules. In addition, I think you are absolutely right, China has the right to want the foreign media to report that stuff.David:Instead of looking at China through a Western lens and saying, this is draconian, this is ferocious, this is abuse of human rights. It's absolutely appropriate for China to say no, if you're doing your job properly, you will try and understand this place on China's own terms. You will allow Chinese voices into your reporting and let them tell the world that they're actually comforted by this extremely strict zero COVID policy, which is tremendously popular with the majority of the Chinese public. That is a completely legitimate ambition. And I never failed to take the chance to tell officials that's why they should give visas to have journalists in the country, because if you're not in the country, you can't think that stuff up.David:What I think is much more problematic is that there is alongside that legitimate desire to have China understood on China's own terms, there is a very conscious strategy underway, which is talked about by some of the academics at Fudan who work for Eric Li at Guancha as a discourse war, a narrative war, or to redefine certain key terms.Bill:And the term and the term is really is like struggle. I mean, they see it as a public opinion war globally. I mean, that the language is very martial in Chinese.David:Absolutely. Yeah. And do not say that we are not a democracy. If you say that we are not a democracy, you are ignoring our tremendous success in handling COVID. We are a whole society democracy, which it's basically a performance legitimacy argument, or a collective utilitarian, the maximizing the benefits for the largest number of argument. It's not particularly new, but the aggression with which it's being pushed is new and the extraordinary resources they put into going after Western media for the language that we use of our China. And I had a very interesting conversation with a CGTN commentator who attacked me online, on Twitter and said that I was a... It was sort of like you scratch an English when you'll find a drug dealer or a pirate.David:Now there's a lot of Opium War rhetoric around if you're a British journalist in China. You're never too far from Opium War reference. And for the record, I don't approve of the war, but it was also before my time. So I actually, the guy attacked me fairly aggressively on Twitter. So I said, can you try and be professional? I'm being professional here why won't you be professional. He invited me with coffee. So we had coffee. And we talked about his work for CGTN and for Chaguan and his view of his interactions to Western media. And he said, this very revealing thing. He said, the reason we do this stuff is because it works.David:He said, I can't tell you how many Western diplomats, or Western journalists they whine. And they moan. And they say, how aggressive China is now and how upset all this Wolf warrior stuff is and how China is doing itself damage. And he goes, we're not, it's working. You in the Western media, used to routinely say that the national people's Congress was a rubber stamp parliament. And because we went after you again and again, you see news organizations no longer as quick to use that. Because we went after you calling us a dictatorship, you're now slower to use that term because we went after you about human rights and how it has different meanings in different countries. We think it's having an effect.David:And so I think that this attempt to grind us down is working, although in their view, it's working. And I think that, that ties in with a broader conversation that I have a lot in Beijing with foreign ambassadors or foreign diplomats who they get called into the foreign ministry, treated politically aggressively and shouted at and humiliated. And they say, how does the Chinese side not see that this causes them problems? And I think that in this moment of, as you say, an era of struggle, this phrase that we see from speeches, from leaders, including Xi, about an era of change, not seen in 100 years.David:They really do feel that as the West, particularly America is in decline and as China is rising, that it's almost like there's a turbulence in the sky where these two the two axis are crossing. And that China has to just push through that turbulence. To use a story that I had kept secret for a long time, that I put in a column when Michael Kovrig was released. So, listeners will remember Michael Kovrig was one of the two Canadians who was held cover couple of years, basically as a hostage by the Chinese state security. And fairly early on, I had heard from some diplomats in Beijing from another Western embassy, not the UK, I should say, that the fact that Michael Kovrig in detention was being questioned, not just about his work for an NGO, the international crisis group that he was doing when he was picked up.David:But he was also being questioned about work he'd been doing for the Canadian embassy when he had diplomatic immunity. The fact that that was going on was frightening to Western diplomats in Beijing. And soon after that conversation, I was sitting there talking to this guy, reasonably senior official. And I said to him, I explained this conversation to him. And I said, I've just been having a conversation with these diplomats. And they said, the word that they used was frightened about what you are doing to Michael Kovrig. And I said, how does it help China to frighten people from that country?David:And he'd been pretty cheerful up till then. He switched to English so that he could be sure that I understood everything he wanted to say to me. And he said, this absolute glacial tone. He said, Canada needs to feel pain. So that the next time America asks an ally to help attack China, that ally will think twice. And that's it.Bill:That's it. And it probably works.David:It works. And yeah. So I think that, again, one of the things I think is a value of being here is you have these conversations where the fact that we in the West think that China is inevitably making a mistake by being much more aggressive. I don't think that's how a big part of the machine here sees it. I think they think it worked.Bill:No. I agree. And I'm not actually sure that they're making a mistake because if you look at so far, what have the cost been? As you said, I mean, behavior is shift, but I think it's definitely open for question. I mean, it's like the assumptions you still see this week, multiple columns about how China's COVID policy is inevitably going to fail. And I'm sitting here in DC, we're about to cross a million people dead in this country, and I'm thinking what's failure. It's a very interesting time.Bill:I mean, to that point about this attitude and the way that there seem to be prosecuting a very top down or top level design communication strategy, Zhang Weiwei, who's at Fudan University. And also I think Eric Li is a closer associate of his, he actually was the, discussant at a Politburo study session. One of the monthly study sessions a few months ago, where I think the theme was on improving international communication. And talking about, again, how to better tell China's story, how to increase the global discourse power.Bill:Some people saw that as, oh, they're going to be nicer because they want to have a more lovable China image. I’m very skeptical because I think that this more aggressive tone, the shorthand is “Wolf warriors. wolf-warriorism”, I think really that seems to me to be more of a fundamental tenant of Xi Jinping being thought on diplomacy, about how China communicates to the world. I mean, how do you see it and how does this get better, or does it not get better for a while?David:It's a really important question. So I think, what do they think they're up to? To simplify and exaggerate a bit, I think that China, and this is not just a guess, this is based on off the record conversations with some pretty senior Chinese figures, they believe that the Western world, but in particular, the United States is too ignorant and unimaginative and Western centric, and probably too racist to understand that China is going to succeed, that China is winning and that the West is in really decadent decline.David:And so I think that these aggressive acts like detaining the two Michaels or their diplomatic an economic coercion of countries like Australia or Lithuania. They hear all the Pearl clutching dismay from high officials in Brussels, or in Washington DC-Bill:And the op-eds in big papers about how awful this is and-David:And the op-eds and yeah, self-defeating, and all those things. But I think that what they believe they are doing is delivering an educational dose of pain and I'm quoting a Chinese official with the word pain. And it is to shock us because we are too mule headed and thick to understand that China is winning and we are losing. And so they're going to keep delivering educational doses of pain until we get it. I think they think that's what they're up to-Bill:And by getting it basically stepping a side in certain areas and letting the Chinese pursue some of their key goals, the core interests, whatever you want to call it, that we, yeah.David:That we accommodate. Yeah. The fundamental message I'm quoting a smart friend of mine in Beijing here is China's rise is inevitable. Resistance is futile.Bill:Right. Resistance is futile.David:And if you accommodate us, we'll make it worth your while. It's the key message. And they think that some people are proving dimer and slower and more reluctant to pick that message up and above all Americans and Anglo Saxons. And so they're giving us the touch, the whip. Now, do I think that, that is inevitably going to be great for them? And you ask how does this end well? I mean, I guess my reason for thinking that they may yet pay some price, not a total price, is that they are engaged in a giant experiment. The Chinese government and party are engaged in a giant experiment, that it didn't matter that much, that the Western world was permissive and open to engagement with China.David:That, That wasn't really integral to their economic rise for the last 40 years that China basically did it by itself. And that if the Western world becomes more suspicious and more hostile, that China will not pay a very substantial price because its market power and its own manufacturing, industrial strength, we'll push on through. And so there'll be a period of turbulence and then we'll realized that we have to accommodate. And I think that in many cases they will be right. There will be sectors where industries don't leave China. They in fact, double down and reinvest and we're seeing that right now, but I do worry that there are going to be real costs paid.David:I mean, when I think back to... I did a special report for The Economists in May, 2019 about us generations. And one of the parts of that was the extraordinary number of Chinese students in us colleges. And I went to the University of Iowa and I spoke to Chinese students and you know that now, the levels of nationalism and hostility on both sides and the fear in American campuses, that's a real cost. I mean, I think if you imagine China's relationship with the Western world, particularly the U.S. as a fork in the road with two forks, one total engagement, one total decoupling, then absolutely China is right. There's not going to be total decoupling because we are as dependent as we were on China's, it's just-Bill:Right. Not realistic.David:China is an enormous market and also the best place to get a lot of stuff made. But I wonder, and it's an image I've used in a column, I think. I think that the relationship is not a fork in the road with two forks. It's a tree with a million branches. And each of those branches is a decision. Does this Western university sign a partnership with that Chinese university? Does this Western company get bought by a Chinese company? Does the government approve of that? Does this Western media organization sign a partnership with a Chinese media organization?David:Does this Western country buy a 5g network or an airline or a data cloud service or autonomous vehicles from China that are products and services with very high value added where China wants to be a dominant player. And that's an entirely reasonable ambition, because China's a big high tech power now. But a lot of these very high value added services or these relationships between universities, or businesses, or governments in the absence of trust, they don't make a bunch of sense because if you don't trust the company, who's cloud is holding your data or the company who's made you the autonomous car, which is filled with microphones and sensors and knows where you were last night and what you said in your car last night, if you don't trust that company or the country that made that, none of that makes sense.David:And I think that China's willingness to show its teeth and to use economic coercion and to go to European governments and say, if you don't take a fine Chinese 5g network we're going to hurt you. If you boil that down to a bumper sticker, that's China saying to the world, or certainly to the Western world stay open to China, or China will hurt you. Trust China or China will hurt you. That's the core message for a lot of these Wolf warrior ambassadors. And that's the core message to people like me, a guy who writes a column living in Beijing. And a lot of the time China's market power will make that okay. But I think that's, if you look at that tree with a million decisions, maybe more of those than China was expecting will click from a yes to a no.David:If you're a Western university, do you now open that campus in Shanghai? Do you trust your local Chinese partner when they say that your academics are going to have freedom of speech? And what's heartbreaking about that is that the victims of that are not going to be the politic bureau it's going to be people on the ground, it's going to be researchers and students and consumers and-Bill:On both sides. I mean, that's-David:On both sides. Yeah.Bill:Yeah. That's the problem.David:Yeah.Bill:So that's uplifting. No, I mean, I-David:I've got worse.Bill:Wait until the next question. I think I really appreciate your time and it'd be respective but I just have two more questions. One is really about just being a foreign correspondent in China and the Foreign correspondents' Club of China put out its annual report, I think earlier this week. And it's depressing you read as it's been in years and every year is extremely depressing, but one of the backdrops is really the first foreign ministry press conference of the last year of 2021. It really struck me that Hua Chunying, who is... She's now I think assistant foreign minister, vice foreign minister at the time, she was the head of the information office in I think the one of the spokespeople, she made a statement about how it was kicking off the 100th anniversary year.Bill:And I'm just going to read her couple sentences to get a sense of the language. So she said, and this was on the, I think it was January 4th, 2021, "In the 1930s and 1940s when the Guangdong government sealed off Yunnan and spared, no efforts to demonize the CPC foreign journalists like Americans, Edgar Snow, Anna Louise Strong and Agnes Smedley, curious about who and what the CPC is, chose to blend in with the CPC members in Yunnan and wrote many objective reports as well as works like the famous Red star over China, giving the world, the first clip of the CPC and its endeavor in uniting and leading the Chinese people in pursuing national independence and liberation."Bill:And then went on with more stuff about how basically wanting foreign correspondents to be like Snow, Strong or Smedley. How did that go over? And I mean, is that just part of the, your welcome as long as you're telling the right story message?David:So there was a certain amount of... Yeah. I mean, we also got this from our handlers at the MFA, why couldn't it be more like Edgar Snow? And I fear the first time I had that line in the meeting, I was like, well, he was a communist, if that's the bar, then I'm probably going to meet that one. Edgar Snow went to Yan’an he spent a tremendous amount of time in Mao hours interviewing Mao. If Xi Jinping wants to let me interview him for hours, I'd be up for that. But I would point out that Edgar Snow, after interviewing Mao for hours, then handed the transcripts over to Mao and had them edited and then handed back to him. And that probably would not be-Bill:But doesn't work at The Economist.David:That wouldn't fly with my editors. No. So I think we may have an inseparable problem there. Look, isn't it the phrase that Trump people used to talk about working the refs? I mean, what government doesn't want to work the refs. So, that's part of it. And I'm a big boy, I've been at Trump rallies and had people scream at me and tell me, I'm fake news. And it was still a good thing to meet. I've interviewed Afghan warlords who had happily killed me, but at that precise moment, they wanted the Americans to drop a bomb on the mountain opposite.David:And so they were willing to have me in their encampment. So, the worker of being a journalist, you need to go and talk to people who don't necessarily agree with you or like you and that's the deal. So I'm not particularly upset by that. What is worrying and I think this is shown in the FCC annual server, which is based on asking journalists in China how their job goes at the moment is there is a sense that the Chinese machine and in particular things like the communist youth league have been very effective at whipping up low public opinion.David:So when we saw the floods in Hunan Province in the summer of 2021, where in fact, we recently just found out that central government punished a whole bunch of officials who had covered up the death doll there, journalists who went down there to report this perfectly legitimate, large news story, the communist youth league among other organizations put out notices on their social media feeds telling people they're a hostile foreign journalists trying to make China look bad, to not talk to them, if you see them, tell us where they are. And you've got these very angry crowds chasing journalists around Hunan in a fairly worry way.David:And again, if you're a foreign correspondent in another country, we are guests in China. So, the Chinese people, they don't have to love me. I hope that they will answer my questions, because I think I'm trying to report this place fairly, but I'm not demanding red carpet treatment, but there is a sense that the very powerful propaganda machine here is whipping up very deliberately something that goes beyond just be careful about talking to foreign journalists. And I think in particular, one thing that I should say is that as a middle aged English guy with gray hair, I still have an easier time of it by far because some of the nastiest attacks, including from  the nastiest online nationalist trolls.David:They're not just nationalists, but they're also sexist and chauvinist and the people who I think really deserve far more sympathy than some like me is Chinese American, or Chinese Australian, or Chinese Canadian journalists, particularly young women journalists.Bill:I know Emily Feng at NPR was just the subject of a really nasty spate of attacks online about some of her reporting.David:And it's not just Emily, there's a whole-Bill:Right. There's a whole bunch.David:There's a whole bunch of them. And they get called you know er guizi all sorts of [crosstalk 00:37:15]. And this idea and all this horrible stuff about being race traitors and again, one of the conversations I've had with Chinese officials is, if you keep this up, someone is going to get physically hurt. And I don't think that's what you want. David:And again, I fall back on the fact that I'm a Western liberal. What I say to them is if you tell me that a Chinese-British journalist is not as British as me, then you are to my mind, that's racial prejudice. And if some right wing Western white politician said to me that a Chinese immigrant wasn't fully American, or wasn't fully British, that's racism, right?Bill:That's racism. Yeah.David:And I think that is the really troubling element to this level of nationalism. China is a very big country that does some very impressive things that does some less impressive things and does some very wicked things, but we have every reason to give it credit for the things it does well. And it is not that surprising when any government tries to work the refs.David:And get the best coverage they can by intimidating us and calling us out. I've interviewed Donald Trump and he asked me, when are you going to write something nice about me? I mean, we're grownups, this is how it works, but if they are making it toxic for young women journalists to work in China, or if they are driving foreign correspondent out of China, because their families they're under such intimidation that they can't even go on holiday without their children being followed around by secret police. I think there will be a cost.Bill:But that may be a what the Chinese side sees as a benefit, because then it opens the field for them controlling how the story's told. And then you can bring in a bunch of people or pull a bunch of people out of the foreigners working for state media, hey, the new Edgar Snow, the new Agnes Smedley. I mean, that is one of the things that I think potentially is what they're trying to do, which seems self-defeating, but as we've been discussing, what we think is self-defeating the policy makers, or some of them may see as a success.David:So what I think they're confident of is that being aggressive and making us much more jumpy is a win, but throwing all of us out, I think the people at the top get that, that's not a win because the New York times and the BBC and the Washington post, they're still going to cover China, even if they can't have people in China. And a bunch of that coverage is not going to be stuff that China likes, North Korea doesn't have any resident foreign correspondent, but it doesn't get a great press.Bill:And the other group, of course, but beyond the foreign journalists is all the PRC national journalists working for the foreign correspondent as researchers and, I mean, many of them journalists in all but name because they can't legally be that I've certainly, been hearing some pretty distressing stories about how much pressure they're under. And I think they're in almost an impossible situation it seems like right now.David:Now they're amazingly brave people. They're completely integral to our coverage. And many of them, as you say, they're journalists who in any other country, we would be getting to write stuff with their own bylines. I mean, in incredibly cautious about what we have our Chinese colleagues do now, because they are under tremendous pressure. I mean, not naming news organizations, but the just the level of harassment of them and their families and is really bad. And it's the most cynical attempt to make it difficult for us to do our jobs and to divide Chinese people from the Western media.David:But fundamentally at some level, this does not end well because, and this is not me just talking up the role of the Western media, because I think we're magnificently important people, but at some level there's a big problem under way with this level of nationalism in modern China. I was in China in the '90s, you were in China in the '90s, I think. We remember it was-Bill:'80s, '90s, 2000s. Yeah.David:Yeah. You were there before me, but it was not a Jeffersonian democracy. It was a dictatorship, but this level of nationalism is much more serious now. Why does that matter? Well, because I think that for a lot of particularly young Chinese, the gap between their self perception and the outside world's perception of China has become unbearably wide. They think this country has never been so impressive and admirable. And yet I keep seeing foreign media questioning us and criticizing us. And that just enrages them. They can't conceive of any sincere principle on our part that would make us criticize China that way.David:And going back to my conversation with the online nationalist Sai Lei, when he was saying, well, how would the Americans take it if they were told that eating avocados was bad for the environment? When I said to him, but they are told that. There are lots of environmental NGOs that talk about sustainable fisheries, or the cost, the carbon footprint of crops and things in the West. The two countries are pulling apart and the pandemic has just accelerated that process. And so if you are a Chinese nationalist, not only are you angry about being criticized, but you don't believe that the West is ever critical about itself. You think that the West is only bent on criticizing China. And that gap in perceptions is just really dangerously wide.Bill:And widening, it seems like. I mean, I'm not there now, but it certainly, from everything I can see outside of China, it feels like that's what's happening too.David:Yeah. We need to know more about China.Bill:I agree.David:And report more about China. And I don't just say that because that's how I earn my living. I think it's really, really dangerous for us to think that the solution is less reporting about China.Bill:Well, and certainly, I mean, and all sorts of avenues, not just media, but all sorts of avenues, we're seeing a constriction of information getting out of China. And on the one hand China's growing in importance globally and power globally. And on the other hand, our ability to understand the place seems to be getting harder. And it goes back to, I mean, we just, I think it'll be a mistake if we just get forced into accepting the official version of what China is. That's disseminated through the officially allowed and sanctioned outlets in China. Maybe that'll help China, but I'm not sure it helps the rest of the world.David:And it's not compatible with China's ambitions to be a high tech superpower. China wants to be a country that doesn't just-Bill:That's a very fundamental contradiction.David:Yeah. China wants to sell us vaccines and wants the Western world to buy Chinese vaccines and approve Chinese vaccines. Why has the FDA not yet approved Chinese vaccines? Well, one reason is because China hasn't released the data. You can't play this secretive defensive hermit state and be a global high tech superpower. And China is a very, very big country with a lot of good universities, a lot of smart people. It has every right to compete at the highest levels in global high tech. But you can't do that, if you are not willing to earn trust by sharing the data, or by letting your companies be audited, when they list overseas. They need to decide.Bill:Or being able to handle legitimate criticism. I mean, certainly there has been illegitimate criticism and the attacks on the Western media, I mean, I know the BBC was a frequent target last year. And I think they were able to pull out some errors of the reporting and then magnify it. I mean, it is a struggle. And I think one of the things I think is on the Chinese side, they're very much geared up for this ongoing global opinion struggle. And we're not and we're never going to be, because it's just not how our systems are structured. So it's going to be an interesting few years.David:It is. And it's a tremendous privilege to still be here. And as long as I'm allowed, I'm going to keep letting Chinese people, letting their voices be heard in my column. That's what I think I'm here for.Bill:Okay. Last question. Just given your experience in living in DC and writing for The Economist from here, where do you see us, China relations going? And there is a one direct connection to what we just talked about, the foreign journalists where there theoretically has been some sort of an improvement or a deal around allowing more journalists from each side to go to other country. Although what I've heard is that the Chinese side was been very clear that some of the folks who were forced to leave or were experienced are not going to be welcome back. It's going to have to be a whole new crop of people who go in for these places, which again, seems to be, we don't want people who have priors or longer time on the ground, potentially.David:We think that each of the big American news organizations just going to get at least one visa, initially. And that Is going to be this deal done and it's high time. And you're right, as far as we can tell the people who were expelled or forced to leave are not going to come back. And that's a real tragedy because I have Chinese officials say to me, we wish that the Western media sent people who speak good Chinese and who understand China. And I was like Ian Johnson and Chris Buckley, these people lived for, their depth of knowledge and their love for China was absolutely unrivaled. So, if you're going to throw those people out, you can't complain about journalists who don't like China.Bill:Exactly.David:The general trend of U.S. China relations. to be of optimistic about the trend of U.S. China relations I'd have to be more optimistic than I currently am about the state of U.S. Politics. And there's a kind of general observation, which is that I think that American democracy is in very bad shape right now. And I wish that some of the China hawks in Congress, particularly on the Republican side, who are also willing to imply, for example, that the 2020 election was stolen, that there was massive fraud every time they say that stuff, they're making an in-kind contribution to the budget of the Chinese propaganda department.Bill:I agree completely there. It's not a joke because it's too serious, but it's just ludicrous, hypocrisy and shortsightedness. It's disgusting.David:You cannot be a patriotic American political leader and tell lies about the state of American democracy. And then say that you are concerned about China's rise. So there's a general observation about, if dysfunction continues at this level, then-Bill:No wonder the Chinese are so confident.David:Yeah. I mean, the Chinese line on president Biden is interesting. One of the big things about my first couple of years here when president Trump was still in office was, I'd any number of people in the states saying confidently that Donald Trump was a tremendous China hawk. I never believed. And I've interviewed Trump a few times and spoken to him about China and spoken to his China people. I never believed that Donald Trump himself was a China hawk. If you define a China hawk, as someone who has principled objections to the way that China runs itself. I think that Donald Trump couldn't care less about the Uighurs and Xinjiang. In fact, we know he approved to what they were doing.David:Couldn't care less about Hong Kong couldn't care less frankly, about Taiwan. His objection to the China relationship was that I think he thinks the American economy is the big piece of real estate, and you should pay rent to access it. And he thought China wasn't paying enough rent. So he was having a rent review. I mean, that's what the guy. It was about, they needed to pay more and then he was going to be happy. So he was not a China hawk. What was really interesting was that here in China, officials would be pretty open by the end, took them time to get their heads around Trump. For a long time they thought he was New York business guy. Then they realized that was, he wasn't actually like the other New York business guy they knew.David:And then they thought he was like a super China hawk. And then they realized that that wasn't true. By the end, they had a nail. They thought he was a very transactional guy. And the deal that they could do with him was one that they were happy to do, because it didn't really involve structural change on the Chinese side. Then their message about Joe Biden is that he is weak and old and lacks control of Congress. And that he is, this is from scholars rather than officials, I should say, but their view is, why would China spend political capital on the guy who's going to lose the next election?Bill:And not only the next election but is probably going to lose control of the House, at least in nine, what is it? Nine months or 10 months. So why worry? And that they do and I think, I mean, one of the big milestones will be the national security strategy, the national defense strategy, which in the Trump administration they came out in the December of the first year and then January for the NDS. It's February, we still haven't seen those here. I think certainly as you said, but certainly from Chinese interlock is the sense of, is that they can't come to an agreement on what it should be, the U.S. China policy.David:Yeah. And China has some legitimate concerns. I mean, for example, if you are Xi Jinping and you're trying to work out how ambitious your climate change timetables going to be. How much pain are you going to ask co-producing provinces in the Northeast to take to get out to carbon neutrality as quickly as say, the Europeans are pushing you to do. And part of the equation is America going to take some pain too, or are we going to end up being uncompetitive? Because America's not actually going to do the right thing? Well, Joe Biden can talk a good game on climate as an area for cooperation with China. But if he loses the next election and Donald Trump or someone like Donald Trump wins the White House then if you're shooting pink, why would you kind of strike a painful deal with America if you don't think it's going to last beyond 2024?Bill:Right. You'll do what makes sense for your country and not offer anything up to America because we already have a record of backing out of these deals. That's the problem.David:So that has real world consequences. The one thing that I will say about the U.S. China relationship, and I'm very, very pessimistic about the fact that the two sides, they don't share a vision of how this ends well. There is no end game that I think makes both sides happy, because I think the Chinese vision is America sucks it up and accommodates.Bill:Right. Resistance is futile.David:Yeah, exactly. And the American vision, I think, is that China stumbles, that China is making mistakes, that the state is getting involved in the economy too much. That Xi Jinping is centralizing power too much. And that somehow China's going to make so many mistakes that it ends up to feed defeating itself. I think that's one of the arguments you here in DC.Bill:Yes. It's wishful thinking it's not necessarily based on a rigid rigorous analysis. It seems like it's much more wishful thinking.David:So, that is a reason to be pessimistic about the medium and the long-term. The one thing that I will say based here in China is that when I write really specific color about things like what does China think of the idea of Russia invading Ukraine? And I talk to really serious scholars who spent their lives studying things like Russia policy or foreign policy or international relations, or if I talk to really senior tech people, Chinese tech companies, they do take America's power very seriously. Even though there is absolutely sincere disdain for American political dysfunction.David:I think that America's innovation power, the areas of technology, whether it's semiconductors or some forms of AI algorithms where America just really is still ahead by a long way, the really serious people, when you talk to them off the record, they still take America seriously. And on that Ukraine example, what was really interesting, the prompt for that was seeing commentators in the U.S. saying that Xi Jinping would like Putin to invade Ukraine because this was going to be a test that Biden was going to fail and America was going to look weak. And maybe that would lead Xi Jinping to then invade Taiwan.David:And when I spoke to Chinese scholars, really serious Chinese scholars of Russia, their Irish, it's like, no, no, no. Russia is an economy, the size of Guangdong and they sell us oil and gas, which is nice. But our trade to them is not enough to sacrifice our relationship with America.Bill:Thank you, David Rennie. That was a really good conversation. I think very useful, very illuminating. The links, some of the articles we talked about, the links will be in the show notes. And just a note on the schedule for the sinocism podcast. It is not, I think going to be weekly or biweekly as I thought originally, I'm still working it out, but it will be every, at least once a month. I hope it's the plan, if not, a little more frequent depending on the guests.Bill:So thanks for your patience and look forward to hearing from you. I love your feedback. The transcript will be on the website when it goes live. So please let me know what you think. And as always, you can sign up for sinocism at sinocism.com, S-I-N-O-C-I-S-M.com. Thank you. Get full access to Sinocism at sinocism.com/subscribe

It's hard to believe the Winter Olympics have begun in Beijing, our second COVID Games. Sam talks to NPR correspondent Emily Feng about the political implications of this year's Olympics, the crackdowns on activists, and diplomatic boycotts.Then, Sam talks to Hiwote Getaneh and Jesse Baker, producers of the podcast This Is Dating, a show about first dates. They talk about what the show taught the two of them about love and dating and offer up some advice of their own. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin and email us at samsanders@npr.org.

China has been detaining and arresting ethnic Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang en masse while their children are often sent to state boarding schools. China closely guards information about Xinjiang, including about these forced family separations. But NPR's Beijing correspondent Emily Feng managed to talk to two children who made it out of one such school and are sharing their story for the first time.In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The Games don't begin until February 4, but the drama around the pandemic, free speech, and diplomatic boycotts has been building for months. NPR's Emily Feng explains from Beijing. This episode was produced by Hady Mawajdeh, edited by Matt Collette, engineered by Efim Shapiro, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

China's 1.4 billion people are averaging fewer than 100 cases of Covid-19 a day. All it takes is the willingness to shut down anything at any time. NPR's Emily Feng explains from Beijing. Today's show was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Matt Collette, engineered by Efim Shapiro, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A U.N. climate summit is underway this week in Glasgow, Scotland. Many of the world's top carbon emitting-countries will be represented there. Scientists say they need to do more to curb greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. The U.S, along with the China, are the world's top greenhouse gas emitters. India is third. And Brazil plays a crucial role in global climate, because it is home to vast rainforests that feed on carbon. But those rainforests are disappearing faster until the current government. Ahead of the summit, NPR international correspondents in China, India, and Brazil gathered to discuss what climate action those countries are taking: Emily Feng in Beijing, Lauren Frayer in Mumbai, and Philip Reeves in Rio de Janeiro.NPR's Lauren Sommer outlined the stakes at the Glasgow summit here. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

A U.N. climate summit is underway this week in Glasgow, Scotland. Many of the world's top carbon emitting-countries will be represented there. Scientists say they need to do more to curb greenhouse gas emissions in order to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. The U.S, along with the China, are the world's top greenhouse gas emitters. India is third. And Brazil plays a crucial role in global climate, because it is home to vast rainforests that feed on carbon. But those rainforests are disappearing faster until the current government. Ahead of the summit, NPR international correspondents in China, India, and Brazil gathered to discuss what climate action those countries are taking: Emily Feng in Beijing, Lauren Frayer in Mumbai, and Philip Reeves in Rio de Janeiro.NPR's Lauren Sommer outlined the stakes at the Glasgow summit here. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Caregiver support groups were forced to go virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But this helped some caregivers of loved ones with dementia find support for the first time. KJZZ's Kathy Ritchie has the story. And, as NPR's Emily Feng reports, China is promoting "red tourism" — visiting Communist Party historical sites that venerate Chairman Mao Zedong, and increasingly, the country's current leader Xi Jinping.

I spoke to Eli Friedman of Cornell University on arrested delivery driver / labor organizer Mengzhu (盟主), and China's Gig Economy. We discuss Mengzhu, his amazing life story, and his even more incredible organizing of China's delivery workers. We then discuss why such an amazing worker would be violently suppressed and imprisoned by the 'Communist' party of China. This dovetails with a conversation on why the Gig Economy has taken such a large role in China's economy, how this Gig economy brutally exploits China's workers, and how we can build an international labor movement to oppose companies like Uber, Door Dash, Meituan or Ele.me in both the US and China. For more on Mengzhu's case we recommend reading Emily Feng's great article in NPR: https://www.npr.org/2021/04/13/984994360/he-tried-to-organize-workers-in-chinas-gig-economy-now-he-faces-5-years-in-jail As well as following the twitter account Free Chen Guojiang 关注盟主 ( Twitter: @FGuojiang ) for updates on his case and how international comrades can help. And lastly for a fantastic print article on the horrific conditions and explotation that China's delivery drivers endure, we highly recommend the Chuang Collective's translation of the 人物 feature on these topics: https://chuangcn.org/2020/11/delivery-renwu-translation/ Beat by Gold Streak Beats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztKSVF06cVI

Caught between an authoritarian homeland and an increasingly hostile U.S., how does one live conscientiously? Who grieves, and what makes a life grievable?Read the article by Yangyang Cheng: https://supchina.com/2021/04/09/the-grieving-and-the-grievable/Narrated by Emily Feng.

Emily Feng is a writer, director, and editor based in New York City. She has worked on music videos, narratives, brand campaigns, and documentaries. Most notably, her documentaries shot in Havana, Cuba have been selected at Best Shorts Competition, PopDoc Awards, Asian Film Festival Los Angeles Hollywood, and Seattle Asian American Film Festival. She is currently working on writing her first feature film as well as working as an videographer and video editor for The Chelsea Music Festival in NYC. She aims to make space in the industry for stories of underrepresented voices and to connect people, despite our difference, through our shared humanity and emotions.

Efforts continue to move a container ship that is blocking the Suez Canal. We find out why it is proving such a challenge from Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping. Also in the programme, retailer H&M faces a backlash in China after expressing concern about Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Emily Feng is Beijing correspondent for the US public broadcaster NPR, and tells us how H&M got caught up in a diplomatic row between China and the west over allegations of forced labour. Plus, with US president Joe Biden pledging to decriminalise cannabis at a federal level in the country, catching up with a growing number of individual states, we find out about the companies lining up to take advantage. Amanda Jones is chief executive of California-based firm Kikoko, which sells products infused with some of the active ingredients found in cannabis, and explains pandemic-induced anxiety has been good for business. Consultant psychiatrist Dr Marta di Forti at King's College London discusses concerns about the potential effect of cannabis on mental health. And we meet Boris Jordan, executive chairman of the biggest-selling cannabis company in the US, Curaleaf, who has been described by Forbes magazine as "the only pot billionaire".

This week, we had the pleasure of speaking with guest Emily Feng! Emily is a writer, director, and editor based in New York City. She has worked on music videos, narratives, brand campaigns, and documentaries. Most notably, her documentaries shot in Havana, Cuba have been selected at Best Shorts Competition, PopDoc Awards, Asian Film Festival Los Angeles Hollywood, and Seattle Asian American Film Festival. She is currently working on writing her first feature film as well as working as an videographer and video editor for The Chelsea Music Festival in NYC. She aims to make space in the industry for stories of underrepresented voices and to connect people, despite our difference, through our shared humanity and emotions. Hope you enjoy!

This week's episode features Emily Feng, a filmmaker in New York. Emily is passionate about sharing stories of culturally diverse experiences, including her recent short films sharing the stories of two individuals in Cuba. In this episode we discuss: 1. Exploring a career in film as a person of colour 2. Cultivating empathy and cultural awareness with film 3. Filming Tao Qi & Carlitos in Cuba Learn more about Emily's work at: emily-feng.com Keep up with YCP content at: @youngculturepodcast & youngculturepodcast.com

The National Committee held a virtual program on February 24, 2021 with Dr. Vanda Felbab-Brown and Mr. Ben Westhoff, moderated by Ms. Emily Feng, who discussed the current status of the opioid epidemic, bilateral efforts to curb the supply of fentanyl in the United States, and the prospects for progress moving forward.

During President Trump's first year in office, 42,000 Americans died of drug overdoses linked to heroin, fentanyl and prescription opioids. After a minor decrease in 2018, deaths rose to a record 50,042 in 2019. That number will likely be even worse for 2020. NPR's Brian Mann reports on the surge of synthetic fentanyl, especially in the western U.S. And NPR's Emily Feng unveils a web of Chinese sellers exporting individual chemical components to produce fentanyl. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

During President Trump's first year in office, 42,000 Americans died of drug overdoses linked to heroin, fentanyl and prescription opioids. After a minor decrease in 2018, deaths rose to a record 50,042 in 2019. That number will likely be even worse for 2020. NPR's Brian Mann reports on the surge of synthetic fentanyl, especially in the western U.S. And NPR's Emily Feng unveils a web of Chinese sellers exporting individual chemical components to produce fentanyl. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Ant Group is a fintech firm that was set to launch with the world's largest ever IPO. But just before its shares started trading, Chinese regulators pulled the plug. NPR's Emily Feng explains why.

While U.S. movie theaters continue to struggle, the picture is better for the international box office. NPR's Bob Mondello, who's reported on how domestic theaters are getting by, explains why things look more promising abroad. A recent outbreak of the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Qingdao says a lot about how aggressively the country has adopted public health measures. Those measures have led to a return of some music festivals, as NPR's Emily Feng reports. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

While U.S. movie theaters continue to struggle, the picture is better for the international box office. NPR's Bob Mondello, who's reported on how domestic theaters are getting by, explains why things look more promising abroad. A recent outbreak of the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Qingdao says a lot about how aggressively the country has adopted public health measures. Those measures have led to a return of some music festivals, as NPR's Emily Feng reports. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

Since February, a series of tit-for-tat restrictions on and expulsions of journalists in the U.S. and China have resulted in the decimation of the ranks of reporters in the P.R.C. While the bureaus of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post remain open, they've had to make do with reduced staff and journalists reporting from outside of the Chinese mainland — in Taiwan and South Korea. Emily Feng, a reporter with National Public Radio (NPR), is one journalist who is still in Beijing. She tells us about how restrictions and expulsions have impacted morale and the ability to report on China.16:58: Morale among foreign media reporters in China26:29: Rising tensions and the U.S. strategy of reciprocity33:33: Reporting from China under increasing pressure36:08: Journalist expulsions and changing perceptions on China reportingRecommendations:Jeremy: A column by Alex Colville: Chinese Lives, featured on SupChina. Specifically, Jeremy recommends Mao’s ‘shameless poet’: Guo Moruo and his checkered legacy.Emily: The Children of Time series, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Kaiser: The China conundrum: Deterrence as dominance, by Andrew Bacevich.

Since graduating from Sanford in 2015, Emily Feng has travelled all over China as a foreign correspondent covering topics ranging from human rights, to technology, to the environment. As foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, Feng uncovered key information surrounding the Chinese oppression of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, China. Her coverage of the human rights abuses in Xinjiang won several human rights press and journalism awards. Feng now works as NPR’s Beijing correspondent and joins Dean Judith Kelly to discuss her path from Sanford graduate to award winning journalist, share stories from her work, and provide a unique insight on key issues she has reported on such as the Uighurs in Xinjiang, the protests in Hong Kong, and the coronavirus pandemic.

In this week’s episode, while Loren cleans out her office, Radha and Erin dig into an array of China-related topics: Huawei! India! Hong Kong! And last, but certainly not least, the World Health Organization. The ladies then turn to White House/American mayhem and try to be analytical while lamenting ongoing violence against black Americans and the potential deployment of U.S. troops in American cities. And finally, an awkward transition to a discussion of pop-culture yields some gems.   Links Huawei Scott Bade, “Huawei’s Terrible Week,” Tech Crunch, May 30, 2020 Emily Feng, “The Latest US Blow to China’s Huawei Could Knock Out Its Global 5G Plans,” NPR, May 28, 2020 India Border Jeffrey Gettleman and Steven Lee Myers, “China and India at 14,000 Feet Along the Border,” New York Times, May 30, 2020 Hong Kong Sergei Klebnikov, “Trump Announces New Sanctions On Chinese Officials, But Won’t Scrap Phase One Trade Deal,” Forbes, May 29, 2020 “Trump Targets China Over Hong Kong Security Law,” BBC News, May 30, 2020 Kenneth Rapoza, “Imaging Hong Kong Without Its US Special Status Deal,” Forbes, May 29, 2020 Jack Caporal, “The US-China Mini Deal (That Never Was?)” CSIS, October 17, 2019 WHO Brianna Ehley and Alice Miranda Ollstein, “Trump Announces US Withdrawal from the World Health Organization,” Politico, May 29, 2020 “Coronavirus: Backlash After Trump Signals US Exit from WHO,” BBC News, May 30, 2020 Protests in US Dan Lamothe, “Trump Administration Offers Active-Duty Military Forces and Intelligence to Help Quell Minnesota Unrest,” Washington Post, May 30, 2020 Samuel Sinyangwe, Tweet, October 5, 2019 Jennifer Doleac, Tweet, May 31, 2020 Megan Ming Francis, Tweet, May 30, 2020 Audrey McNamara, “ Paul Mayor Says Earlier Comments About Arrested Protesters Being Out of State Were Not Correct,” CBS News, May 30, 2020 “Pentagon Puts Military Police on Alert to Go to Minneapolis,” CNBC, May 30, 2020 George Floyd Kate Shellnutt, “George Floy Left a Gospel Legacy in Houston,” Chrsitanity Today, May 28, 2020

In this week’s episode, while Loren cleans out her office, Radha and Erin dig into an array of China-related topics: Huawei! India! Hong Kong! And last, but certainly not least, the World Health Organization. The ladies then turn to White House/American mayhem and try to be analytical while lamenting ongoing violence against black Americans and the potential deployment of U.S. troops in American cities. And finally, an awkward transition to a discussion of pop-culture yields some gems.   Links Huawei Scott Bade, “Huawei’s Terrible Week,” Tech Crunch, May 30, 2020 Emily Feng, “The Latest US Blow to China’s Huawei Could Knock Out Its Global 5G Plans,” NPR, May 28, 2020 India Border Jeffrey Gettleman and Steven Lee Myers, “China and India at 14,000 Feet Along the Border,” New York Times, May 30, 2020 Hong Kong Sergei Klebnikov, “Trump Announces New Sanctions On Chinese Officials, But Won’t Scrap Phase One Trade Deal,” Forbes, May 29, 2020 “Trump Targets China Over Hong Kong Security Law,” BBC News, May 30, 2020 Kenneth Rapoza, “Imaging Hong Kong Without Its US Special Status Deal,” Forbes, May 29, 2020 Jack Caporal, “The US-China Mini Deal (That Never Was?)” CSIS, October 17, 2019 WHO Brianna Ehley and Alice Miranda Ollstein, “Trump Announces US Withdrawal from the World Health Organization,” Politico, May 29, 2020 “Coronavirus: Backlash After Trump Signals US Exit from WHO,” BBC News, May 30, 2020 Protests in US Dan Lamothe, “Trump Administration Offers Active-Duty Military Forces and Intelligence to Help Quell Minnesota Unrest,” Washington Post, May 30, 2020 Samuel Sinyangwe, Tweet, October 5, 2019 Jennifer Doleac, Tweet, May 31, 2020 Megan Ming Francis, Tweet, May 30, 2020 Audrey McNamara, “ Paul Mayor Says Earlier Comments About Arrested Protesters Being Out of State Were Not Correct,” CBS News, May 30, 2020 “Pentagon Puts Military Police on Alert to Go to Minneapolis,” CNBC, May 30, 2020 George Floyd Kate Shellnutt, “George Floy Left a Gospel Legacy in Houston,” Chrsitanity Today, May 28, 2020

Public health experts and NPR journalists answer listener questions on 'The National Conversation with All Things Considered,' NPR's nightly radio show about the coronavirus crisis. Excerpted here:- NPR's Emily Feng discusses China's next steps.- Emergency Physician Richard Levitan addresses skepticism about the effectiveness of ventilators.- Veterinarian Krista Miller answers questions about pet care and adoption. If you have a question, you can share it at npr.org/nationalconversation, or tweet with the hashtag, #NPRConversation.We'll return with a regular episode of Coronavirus Daily on Monday. This episode was recorded and published as part of this podcast's former 'Coronavirus Daily' format.

Public health experts and NPR journalists answer listener questions on 'The National Conversation with All Things Considered,' NPR's nightly radio show about the coronavirus crisis. Excerpted here:- NPR's Emily Feng discusses China's next steps.- Emergency Physician Richard Levitan addresses skepticism about the effectiveness of ventilators.- Veterinarian Krista Miller answers questions about pet care and adoption. If you have a question, you can share it at npr.org/nationalconversation, or tweet with the hashtag, #NPRConversation.We'll return with a regular episode of Coronavirus Daily on Monday. This episode was recorded and published as part of this podcast's former 'Coronavirus Daily' format.

On this week’s special episode of Stay Tuned, Preet is joined by two guests. Ian Bremmer, the president and founder of Eurasia Group, a political risk consulting firm, and GZERO Media, helps us break down the global and domestic threats posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Rahm Emanuel served as Mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019, overseeing the city’s passage of universal pre-kindergarten, its ongoing struggle with crime and police brutality, and its rapid expansion of public-private partnerships. A Chicago native, Emanuel has been a mainstay in Democratic politics since the 1980s, working as a top advisor to President Clinton for the majority of his presidency, holding a seat in the House of Representatives during the George W. Bush administration, and serving as Chief of Staff for President Obama in the first year of his administration. Last month, Emanuel published The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World, an examination of the increasing importance of local leaders amid the dysfunction of the federal government. To listen to Stay Tuned bonus content, become a member of CAFE Insider. Sign up to receive the CAFE Brief, a weekly newsletter featuring analysis of politically charged legal news, and updates from Preet. And if you haven’t already, listen to this week’s full episode of the CAFE Insider podcast for free. Lisa Monaco, former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to President Barack Obama, joins Preet and Anne to discuss the many pertinent issues raised by the coronavirus. Sign up to receive a link to the episode at cafe.com/preet. As always, tweet your questions to @PreetBharara with hashtag #askpreet, email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 669-247-7338 to leave a voicemail. IAN BREMMER Ian Bremmer, “We Are In a Geopolitical Recession. That’s a Bad Time for the Global Coronavirus Crisis,” TIME, 3/13/20 Eurasia Group’s Top Risks for 2020, published 1/6/20 Ian Bremmer, “The Fate of the World in 2020,” Stay Tuned, 1/30/20 Ian Bremmer, “The Fate of the World in 2019,” Stay Tuned, 1/10/19 Maggie Haberman and Noah Weiland, “Inside the Coronavirus Response: A Case Study in the White House Under Trump,” New York Times, 3/16/20 Ishaan Tharoor, “South Korea’s coronavirus success story underscores how the U.S. initially failed,” Washington Post, 3/17/20 Scott Neuman, Emily Feng, Huo Jingnan, “China To Investigate After Whistleblower Doctor Dies From Coronavirus,” National Public Radio, 2/7/20 Shannon Liao, “Chinese billionaire Jack Ma says he will donate one million face masks and 500,000 coronavirus testing kits to the US,” CNN, 3/14/20 Abby Vesoulis, “Will the Coronavirus Outbreak Turn Andrew Yang’s Dream into a Reality?,” TIME, 3/17/20 The Trolley Problem, “Would you sacrifice one person to save five?,” TED-Ed, 1/12/17 RAHM EMANUEL Rahm Emanuel, The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World, Knopf, 2/25/2020 Lizzie Widdicombe, “Emanuel in Full,” New Yorker, 11/18/2008 Handling a crisis “Member of Obama’s Cabinet Announces More Help for Flint,” Detroit Free Press, 2/26/2016 “Congress Approves $15 Billion Airline Bailout,” CNN, 9/22/2001 Shift to Cities “Emanuel Expands Universal Preschool Plan as Mayoral Clock Winds Down,” Chicago Tribune, 3/21/2019 “Chicago’s $8.7 Billion O’Hare Airport Expansion Underway,” Associated Press, 3/20/2019 Rahm Emanuel, “If Donald Trump Won’t Tackle Climate Change, Then Chicago Will,” Guardian, 8/27/2017 “16 Shots: The Police Shooting of Laquan McDonald,” NPR Podcasts/WBEZ Chicago, 2018 “Emanuel Expands Universal Preschool Plan as Mayoral Clock Winds Down,” Chicago Tribune, 3/21/2019 Ruthlessness “Rahm Emanuel, Pitbull Politician,” CNN Money, 9/26/2006 Peter Baker, “The Limits of Rahmism,” New York Times Magazine, 3/8/2010 “LBJ and Richard Russell on Vietnam,” UVA Miller Center, 5/27/1964 John Dickerson, “A ‘90s-Style Government Shutdown,” Slate Whistlestop, 1/16/2019 W. James Antle III, “How ‘Democrats Fall in Love, Republicans Fall in Line’ Got Flipped Upside Down,” The Week, 6/19/2019 2016 and 2020 Elections W. James Antle III, “How ‘Democrats Fall in Love, Republicans Fall in Line’ Got Flipped Upside Down,” The Week, 6/19/2019 Thomas E. Patterson, “News Coverage of the 2016 General Election: How the Press Failed the Voters,” Shorenstein Center, 12/7/2016 Chief of Staff “Rahm Emanuel: No Prius for Sec. Ray LaHood,” The Hill, 3/17/2010 “Trump Names Mark Meadows Chief of Staff, Ousting Mick Mulvaney,” New York Times, 3/6/2020 “The Myth of Hamilton Jordan,” Washington Post, 12/17/197 “The People Who Advise Jimmy Carter. Best and Brightest? Or Not?” Christian Science Monitor, 8/14/1980

As the coronavirus spreads internationally, we wanted to know what it looks like when an infectious disease shuts down one of the world's largest economies. We speak with NPR Beijing correspondent, Emily Feng.

Emily Feng is one of the rising stars among China reporters. She’s about to take up her post in Beijing as National Public Radio’s correspondent after an illustrious run with the Financial Times. In a show taped a few months ago, Emily speaks with Kaiser and Jeremy about her most recent reporting for the FT, covering important topics related to Xinjiang and technology. She also reflects on why, as a Chinese American, she feels like she’s under added pressure to present accurate and balanced reporting on China. What to listen for on this week’s Sinica Podcast: 14:02: Emily discusses the changing scope of topics that have garnered media coverage recently: “This year, rather than having conversations about #MeToo or Black Lives Matter, which, I think, really dominated discussions in the past two years, it's been about Chinese students [and] Chinese identity.” She also discusses a scandal at Duke University — Emily’s alma mater — in which an assistant professor at Duke University urged Chinese students via email to “commit to speaking English 100 percent of the time.” “Chinese Americans have always been very politically quiet. And I come from a Chinese-American family, [so] this is what has been taught to me: Don’t stick your head up. But I think that with what’s happening in the U.S.-China relationship, Chinese Americans are going to have to figure out what their stance is to partake more in political discussions happening on campuses [and] at the local government level.” 18:49: Emily, who has reported extensively on Xinjiang, reflects on her trips there in 2017 and 2018, and the rapidly deteriorating conditions for Uyghur Muslims in the region. “It was very, very evident that things were different. People [in 2017] could still talk freely about what was happening. You would talk to people in taxis, in restaurants — I met up with a number of Uyghur friends and they talked quite comfortably, but fearfully, about how their phones were being hacked and people were going to jail because of content they had shared that was vaguely Muslim from four or five years ago.” Outside of the capital of Urumqi, things were different, she explains. “I went to Hotan and Kashgar in October 2017, and Hotan was just another level. It was a police state. There were tanks and cars on the streets. There were checkpoints maybe every three or four blocks within the city. It was incredibly segregated.” 38:34: Emily wrote a deep-dive story on Hikvision, a Chinese CCTV company, which touches on the moral entanglement that U.S. companies face in supplying authoritarian governments with the nuts and bolts needed to monitor and sometimes oppress or imprison individuals abroad: “There are only a handful of companies out there that can make the type of commercially competitive semiconductors, components, [and] memory hard drives that go into the electronics we use every day — including the type of surveillance technology that China uses. So, that gives American companies a huge amount of power in saying, ‘This is whom we will sell to and this is whom we will not.’ But they’re understandably reluctant in making that distinction and making what they see as political decisions because their focus is the bottom line.” Recommendations: Jeremy: Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast, by Joshua Weilerstein. Emily: The show Schitt’s Creek, available with a Netflix subscription. Kaiser: Another Netflix show, Russian Doll.

This week the ladies dive into the recent Iran drama with Ariane Tabatabai. Next, they revisit some recent election results before turning to whirlwind trade developments, as talks with China fall apart and new restrictions are levied against Huawei. White House Mayhem never disappoints, and the ladies sound off on the moral and strategic bankruptcy of pardoning war criminals. Pop-culture brings us home.   Links Elections Damien Cave, "Australia Elections Results: Prime Minister Scott Morrison Seizes a Stunning Win," New York Times, May 18, 2019 Hywel Griffith and Jay Savage, "Scott Morrison: How Australia's PM Built a 'Miracle' Election Win," BBC, May 19, 2019 Douglas Schorzman and Kai Schultz, "Polls Are Closed in India's Election: What Happens Next?" New York Times, May 19, 2019 Trade Brendan Murray, "Tariff Man Trump Just Had Himself a Week. Here's a Recap," Bloomberg, May 19, 2019 China Chris Buckley and Keith Bradsher, "How Xi's Last-Minute Switch on U.S.-China Trade Deal Upended It," New York Times, May 16, 2019 Eamon Barrett, "China is Running Out of U.S. Good to Tariff, Has Other Trade War Weapons to Unleash," Fortune, May 18, 2019 Michael Schuman, "To China, Alls' Fair in. Love and Trade Wars," Atlantic, May 18, 2019 Julia Horowitz, " Huawei Takes the U.S.-China Trade War to a Dangerous New Level," CNN, May 16, 2019 Mexico – Canada Kayla Tausche and Jacob Pramuk, "US Reaches Deal to Lift Steel and Aluminum Tariffs on Canada and Mexico," CNBC, May 17, 2019 Iran "Iran Nuclear Deal: Tehran May Increase Uranium Enrichment," BBC, May 08, 2019 Becca Wasser and Ariane Tabatabai, Washington Post, "Irans Network of Fighters in the Middle East Aren't Always Loyal to Iran," May 21, 2019 Eric Brewer, Elisa Catalano Ewers, Ilan Goldenberg, Peter Harrell, Nicholas Heras, Elisabeth Rosenberg, and Ariane Tabatabai, "A Realistic Path for Progress on Iran," CNAS, January 29, 2019 Ariane Tabatabai, "Can Anyone Save the Iran Nuclear Deal?" New York Times, May 10, 2019 Huawei Frank Bajak and Tali Arbel, "Huawei Hit by US Export Controls, Potential Important Ban," AP News, May 16, 2019 Emily Feng, "S. Move to Isolate Huawei Sends Ripples Through Global Supply Chain," NPR, May 16, 2019 Emily Stewart, "The US Government's Ongoing Battle With Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei, Explained," Vox, May 21, 2019 War Crimes Dave Philipps, "Trump May Be Preparing Pardons for Servicemen Accused of War Crimes," New York Times, May 18, 2019   Produced by Tre Hester

This week the ladies dive into the recent Iran drama with Ariane Tabatabai. Next, they revisit some recent election results before turning to whirlwind trade developments, as talks with China fall apart and new restrictions are levied against Huawei. White House Mayhem never disappoints, and the ladies sound off on the moral and strategic bankruptcy of pardoning war criminals. Pop-culture brings us home.   Links Elections Damien Cave, "Australia Elections Results: Prime Minister Scott Morrison Seizes a Stunning Win," New York Times, May 18, 2019 Hywel Griffith and Jay Savage, "Scott Morrison: How Australia's PM Built a 'Miracle' Election Win," BBC, May 19, 2019 Douglas Schorzman and Kai Schultz, "Polls Are Closed in India's Election: What Happens Next?" New York Times, May 19, 2019 Trade Brendan Murray, "Tariff Man Trump Just Had Himself a Week. Here's a Recap," Bloomberg, May 19, 2019 China Chris Buckley and Keith Bradsher, "How Xi's Last-Minute Switch on U.S.-China Trade Deal Upended It," New York Times, May 16, 2019 Eamon Barrett, "China is Running Out of U.S. Good to Tariff, Has Other Trade War Weapons to Unleash," Fortune, May 18, 2019 Michael Schuman, "To China, Alls' Fair in. Love and Trade Wars," Atlantic, May 18, 2019 Julia Horowitz, " Huawei Takes the U.S.-China Trade War to a Dangerous New Level," CNN, May 16, 2019 Mexico – Canada Kayla Tausche and Jacob Pramuk, "US Reaches Deal to Lift Steel and Aluminum Tariffs on Canada and Mexico," CNBC, May 17, 2019 Iran "Iran Nuclear Deal: Tehran May Increase Uranium Enrichment," BBC, May 08, 2019 Becca Wasser and Ariane Tabatabai, Washington Post, "Irans Network of Fighters in the Middle East Aren't Always Loyal to Iran," May 21, 2019 Eric Brewer, Elisa Catalano Ewers, Ilan Goldenberg, Peter Harrell, Nicholas Heras, Elisabeth Rosenberg, and Ariane Tabatabai, "A Realistic Path for Progress on Iran," CNAS, January 29, 2019 Ariane Tabatabai, "Can Anyone Save the Iran Nuclear Deal?" New York Times, May 10, 2019 Huawei Frank Bajak and Tali Arbel, "Huawei Hit by US Export Controls, Potential Important Ban," AP News, May 16, 2019 Emily Feng, "S. Move to Isolate Huawei Sends Ripples Through Global Supply Chain," NPR, May 16, 2019 Emily Stewart, "The US Government's Ongoing Battle With Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei, Explained," Vox, May 21, 2019 War Crimes Dave Philipps, "Trump May Be Preparing Pardons for Servicemen Accused of War Crimes," New York Times, May 18, 2019   Produced by Tre Hester

Amid rising concern over surging debt levels in Africa and costly infrastructure projects that are economically unsustainable, both Chinese and a number of African governments are now beginning to re-evaluate their approach on how to pay for large-scale infrastructure projects. This week Eric and Cobus discuss the increasingly contentious politics of financing African infrastructure and rising Chinese political pressure at home for more accountability in response to big losses on African projects, especially new railways in East Africa. For more on this topic, don't miss the excellent reporting by Financial Times reporters David Pilling and Emily Feng in their recent story Chinese investments in Africa go off the rails (paywall). Join the discussion. Do you think African governments should limit borrowing from China to build badly-needed infrastructure or do you think critics and the media are blowing a few isolated instances out of proportion? Let us know what you think. Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque  Email: eric@chinaafricaproject.com   Be sure to join our weekly email newsletter mailing list for a carefully curated selection of the week's top China-Africa news. Sign up here.

Computer chips have become the latest battleground in the trade war between the US and China. Caught in the middle is China chip maker, Fujian Jinhua, which the US has charged with conspiracy to steal trade secrets from US rival Micron. Malcolm Moore discusses the case and China’s efforts to build its own semiconductor industry with Emily Feng in Beijing and Kathrin Hille in TaipeiContributors: Josh Noble, weekend news editor, Malcolm Moore, technology news editor, Emily Feng, Beijing correspondent, Kathrin Hille, Greater China correspondent. Producer: Fiona Symon See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

China's Bytedance is poised to have a valuation higher than Uber and Didi if its latest fundraising succeeds. Malcolm Moore talks to Emily Feng about how the news and video sharing app became one of a handful of Chinese tech giants to go global, and asks whether such a high valuation can be justified.Read more on Bytedance here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

原文刊自：《小枇杷》2018年5月刊 朗读： Emily Feng 文：丁敏帅

As the Trump administration struggles to reunite migrants and their children forcibly separated at the US border, China has been separating families on a far larger scale as part of a crackdown against ethnic Uighurs. The FT’s Emily Feng tells James Kynge how children have been caught up in the crackdown.Read Emily's report here See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The UN says more than two-hundred people people have drowned off Libya in recent days. The recent stand-off between Malta and Italy over a boatload of desperate African travellers has revealed how right-wing populism is hardening attitudes. We hear from Christian Dustmann, the Director of the Centre for Research and Analysis on Migration at University College London about the EU's handling of immigration. Also in the programme, we have a report examining the role that China plays in updating Zambia's infrastructure. The White House reveals a document proposing the reorganisation of the US federal government. Michelle Hackman of the Wall Street Journal in Washington tells us what she made it. Our correspondent Rebecca Henschke gives us the latest on Monday's ferry disaster in Indonesia that killed almost 200 people. Plus, we hear how two female boxing champions are inspiring girls and boys alike. We're joined throughout the programme by Jason Abbruzzese, Senior Tech Editor at NBC News Digital in New York and Emily Feng of the Financial Times in Beijing. (Photo: Migrants from Libya in the Mediterranean Sea. Credit: AFP)

The two Asian giants have been engaged in a diplomatic standoff since China started building a road on disputed territory in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan two months ago. The FT's Amy Kazmin and Emily Feng tell Jyotsna Singh how the dispute flared up and what happens next. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.