Asia Matters Podcast

The extraordinary rise of China’s electric vehicle market is one of the most remarkable business stories of our times. 

In just over a decade, the country has come to account for over half of global EV sales, and is now home to some of the world’s biggest EV makers. One of them, BYD, recently overtook Tesla as the world ‘s largest EV producer.

How has this happened? What’s been the response in other countries? And where next for electric vehicles, as the way we buy, run and use our cars undergoes a period of fundamental change?

Joining us to discuss these questions we have Bill Russo, founder and chief executive of auto sector consultancy Automobility - and Tu Le, founder and managing director of Sino Auto Insights.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has appeared in a slew of new propaganda videos, promoting technological advances in the regime’s nuclear program and issuing warnings to South Korea and its allies. For the first time since the Korean War was paused seven decades ago, the dictator has talked about South Korea as an enemy, rather than part of a peninsula that had to be reunified under the regime, marking a historic shift. 

As Pyongyang reinforces its military cooperation with Moscow, stepping up support for the war in Ukraine, Kim Jong Un has embraced its enhanced international status as a weapons provider, while also preparing for the outcome of the U.S. election. 

Meanwhile, reports from inside the country indicate furtherly stepped up social control, with human rights violations and harsh punishments helping Mr. Kim to tighten its grip on power.

In this episode, Asia Matters host Paolo Bosonin taps two veteran experts for intelligence and analysis: General Chun In-bum, former commander of South Korea’s special forces, and Jenny Town from the 38 North program at the Stimson Center.

Asia is the most exciting and consequential region in the world today. Its countries - all with diverse political systems and complex, fascinating histories - are home to 4.3 billion people, who together generate about two thirds of global growth.

But it's also where some of the planet's most high-stakes disputes play out on a daily basis: China's menacing of Taiwan; the North Korean nuclear threat; and the ongoing civil war in Myanmar.

In short, Asia Matters.

Asia Matters is the podcast where we bring together experts from across the region and beyond to discuss the major issues and trends affecting Asian countries and their people — from China's growing influence, to the global race in technologies like chips and AI, to K-pop’s global dominance. 

Asia Matters - going behind the headlines on the stories affecting the world’s most important region. 

It's a big week for Chinese politics as its annual political conclave gets under way in Beijing. Amid the pomp and heightened security, the Two Sessions is an important preview of the government's plans and policies for the year ahead. And increasingly over the last decade, that roadmap has been underpinned by the instructions of China's leader and the doctrine named for him - Xi Jinping Thought. 
 
But despite the fact that his decisions affect so many, Xi’s beliefs and what guides him can seem difficult to understand, at least to outsiders.

Our guests this week have set out to decipher this. 

Steve Tsang is Professor of China Studies and Director of the China Institute at SOAS in London; and his colleague Olivia Cheung is a research Fellow there. 

Together they have written a book - ‘The Political Thought of Xi Jinping’ - which sets out Xi’s philosophy and why it’s important for us all to understand his beliefs. 

Diplomats, policy-makers and experts gathered at the Brussels Indo-Pacific Dialogue, hosted by our partners at the Center for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy.

Participants shared their insights on the key issues that make this moment arguably the most consequential since World War II: conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, trade wars, supply chains, economic security, artificial intelligence, and more. 

To better understand what's at stake, CSDS-Asia Matters' Andrew Peaple traveled to Brussels to speak with several panelists. 

Highlights include Ambassador Caroline Millar of Australia explaining how she sees the strategic partnership with the European Union, beyond NATO and other alliances; Taiwan's representative to the EU, Roy Chun Lee, talked about Europe's approach to the One China policy and trade security; Han-koo Yeo, a former trade minister of South Korea, shared his views on globalization and inter-reliance. 

Andrew also spoke with Charles Edel from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Alan Chong from the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, Anit Mukherjee from the India Institute at King's College London, and Cheng Ting-Fang, Chief Tech Correspondent for Nikkei Asia.

In January the world's eyes were on Taiwan as the self-ruled island held elections. Now the dust has settled, what is the significance of the results, both for Taiwan itself and for the wider international community? 

The Democratic Progressive Party has now won its third presidential election in a row, with Lai Ching-te, or William Lai, set to become Taiwan’s new leader in May. 

But the outcome in the country’s Legislative Yuan – the equivalent to its parliament — was more of a mixed bag, with none of the leading parties gaining a majority.

This episode discusses the lessons from the election and how the new president will deal with challenges both at home and abroad - not least its large and increasingly belligerent neighbour across the Taiwan Strait, China. 

On the show to talk through these issues is Emily Y. Wu, co-founder of Ghost Island Media - a podcast network that brings perspectives from Taiwan on issues from politics to social issues to climate change. 

And joining her is Joseph Wong, Professor at Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto, who was in Taiwan for the election as an observer. 

Following a historic meeting between the leaders of the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea at Camp David in August, the three countries have been strengthening military and intelligence cooperation. 

What does it mean for the balance of power in Asia? Could this lead to an escalation of tensions with China and North Korea? And crucially, can the "trilateral partnership" last, given the difficult history between Japan and South Korea?

In this episode, CSDS-Asia Matters' Andrew Peaple interviews Tongfi Kim, from the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance, and Mayumi Fukushima, a researcher at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

This episode was produced in conjunction with the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance.

A coalition of rebel armed groups known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance has been taking over towns and claiming control of more than 200 military outposts in northern Myanmar, in a push to overthrow a military regime that appears to have lost most of the country's territory. 

Nearly three years after army leaders seized power in a coup, Myanmar's gruelling civil war may have reached a turning point with the attacks, known as Operation 1027, prompting China to step in. 

And as the violence increases, so do human rights abuses: the United Nations reports an increase in alleged war crimes, which include torture, executions and air strikes targeting civilians.

For this episode of Asia Matters, host Paolo Bosonin interviewed the head of the United Nations' Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, Nicholas Koumjian, and the analyst and former BBC editor Tin Htar Swe. 

Smartphone and telecom-equipment maker Huawei is one of China's most successful and controversial companies.  Despite efforts from the U.S. and other countries to restrict its access to cutting edge semiconductor technology, Huawei recently launched a new phone - the Mate 60 - featuring advanced made-in-China chips. The breakthrough has raised one question: Is America's effort to limit the rise of China's tech sector failing?

In this episode, CSDS-Asia Matters' Andrew Peaple analyzes Huawei's rise, fall, and apparent rise again, with guests Paul Triolo, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Dylan Patel, Chief Analyst at the semiconductor consulting firm SemiAnalysis.

Western governments, led by the U.S., have been taking a harder line on trade with China. At stake is global economic leadership, particularly in vital technologies from semiconductors to Artificial Intelligence to electric vehicles, as well as cooperation on climate goals. 

But how united are the U.S. and Europe on how to approach trade relations with China? What steps are big companies taking as tensions with Beijing rise, and how is Beijing responding?

In this episode, Asia Matters’ Andrew Peaple is joined by Emily Benson from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Alicia Garcia-Herrero at the European think-tank Bruegel.