About Asia

Finbarr Bermingham and the team discuss Xi's Davos speech. How is it different from his speech in 2017, when he spoke just after Trump took office and pitched China as the saviour of multilateralism? He also made an important play for the global south, pitching China as the power that will support the developing world. In the second part of the show economist Nick Marro from the Economist Global Trade Intelligence Unit discusses the furore around the EU China investment deal, signed in December…

Analysis of China's economy following its GDP announcement; it was one of few in the world to exit 2020 with growth, but what of the growing inequality between rich and poor. Has its economic model reached a plateau, and how will it continue to grow its nation's wealth? John Carter and Zhou Xin look at China's economy in 2021 and its challenges, and find contrast in how the US and China approach Big Tech. Washington correspondent Jacob Fromer analyses what he has witnessed in the confirmation…

The headlines have been on Washington this week as riotous Trump supporters laid siege on the US capital, but it has not gone unnoticed in Beijing, where Chinese media and officials have been relishing the chaos. John Carter and Zhou Xin join Finbarr Bermingham to discuss a blistering start to the year. Financial reporter Chad Bray makes his podcast debut to discuss the regulatory hokey cokey facing big Chinese telecoms firms, which may be about to exit the New York Stock Exchange.

The US is about to pass a bill demanding Chinese companies submit to American audit standards or be de-listed from US stock exchanges. Finbarr Bermingham, John Carter and Zhou Xin analyse the impact this will have on the trillions of dollars invested by Chinese companies, and what potential escalations this might lead to. Hear also about the impact of new bans on American made silicon chips to Chinese companies. Our feature interview is with Long Yongtu, one of the pre-eminent veterans of China…

Just days after signing the RCEP trade deal, China's president Xi Jinping shocked analysts and the global trade community with his support for the CPTPP - the agreement once thought to be the highest grade trade deal excluding China in existence, and described as 'the anti-China club' by some Chinese commentators. Why would he do this? Finbarr Bermingham sits down with SCMP political economy editors Zhou Xin and John Carter to look at Xi Jinping's motives and how they fit in a broader…

Fifteen countries from Asia Pacific this week signed the world's biggest trade deal, led by ASEAN but crucially including China. Hear expert analysis from journalists who have covered this every step of the way. Does RCEP represent a lost opportunity for the US and a strategic win for China? Will China's regional sparring partners be able to ratify it? Finbarr Bermingham is joined by Bhavan Jaipragas, Zhou Xin and John Carter to get the details. We've also rifled through Barack Obama's new book…

The SCMP's political economy team take a break from updating the live blog to discuss this week's dramatic, elongated US election. What does it mean for China? What kinds of jokes are going around Chinese social media? What do the Beijing newspapers say - or not say? And what do China watchers think about the state of the relationship? Zhou Xin, John Carter and Finbarr Bermingham discuss this - as well as implications for upcoming negotiations on finance and trade involving Europe and Japan…

In this very special edition, the SCMP Political Economy team count down to a seismic day in the global calendar - November 3. China will release details of its next five-year plan, the same day of the US presidential election. John Carter and William Zheng draw a line between the two events - including a specific detail from a Beijing press conference with huge symbolic meaning for China. Economist Andy Rothman explores China's economic recovery and frisks three post-election scenarios, while…

The SCMP team discuss the Biden-Trump debate and its minimal focus on trade, and compare it with the much more impactful speech given by China's president Xi Jinping for the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, asking the Chinese people to reclaim the 'Korean Spirit'. Hinrich Foundation research fellow and former USTR and WTO negotiator Stephen Olson gives his analysis of Trump and Biden trade policies; in-depth discussion about the future of post-pandemic world trade with Nigerian WTO nominee…

Analysis of China’s trade surge as its tech sector prepares for US sanctions, and the food supply crisis resulting from swine flu and floods spurs food imports.