Asian Insider

The gap between Beijing's stated growth rates and actual economic performance is widening considerably, says expert

Synopsis: Every third Friday of the month, The Straits Times gets its US Bureau Chief to analyse the hottest political and trending talking points.

In this episode, US Bureau Chief Bhagyashree Garekar chats with Dr Logan Wright, an expert on the Chinese economy. He is based in Washington, DC, after living and working in Beijing and Hong Kong for over two decades. 

Wright is a partner at Rhodium Group, a US research and advisory group. He leads the firm’s China markets research work. He is also a senior associate of the trustee chair in Chinese Business and Economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 

His book Broken China: How the Economic Miracle Shattered and What it Means for the World hits the stores in September 2026.

In this episode, he points out that most analysts treat the Chinese economy differently from other economies. “They tend to look at the Chinese system and say this is a different political system, it produces outputs that are long-term plans. Therefore, we filter incoming data in terms of how China is doing based on its long-term plans and its declared goals. From a financial system perspective, it looks entirely different,” he says.

He also sketches out what strikes him as the most troubling aspect of the Chinese economy today. 

Highlights (click/tap above): 

1:20 Analysis of China's actual growth vs. official reports

2:50 Is that a minority opinion?

5:00 The most troubling aspects of the Chinese economy

9:10 Evaluating the quality of Chinese economic data

13:00 AI's impact on returns in the Chinese economy

17:00 When will the property sector rebound?

22:00 Will policy efforts to boost domestic consumption succeed?

25:00 Will China’s low birth rates, high death rates have a large impact on growth?

27:00 The worsening problem of excess industrial capacity

29:10 Reasons South-east Asia must pay attention to China

Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo 

Bhagyashree Garekar’s LinkedIn: https://str.sg/gD6E 

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Bhagyashree Garekar ([email protected]) 

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

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From modern hanboks to Jeju's legendary sea women, discover how South Korea's oldest traditions are finding new life.

Synopsis: The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in.

In this episode, host Li Xueying interviews South Korea correspondent Wendy Teo to explore the modern revival of South Korea's cultural traditions, from the reimagined hanbok to Jeju's legendary haenyeo.

They also discuss why the hanbok is making a comeback in South Korea, from everyday office wear to global pop culture, driven by K-pop, changing attitudes towards traditional dress and efforts to preserve cultural heritage.

Then travel to Jeju to meet the haenyeo, the island's legendary female free-divers, and find out why this centuries-old, physically demanding way of life is drawing a new generation seeking a slower, more meaningful life.

Highlights (click/tap above):

0:50 Modern hanbok redefining tradition

5:00 The BTS effect on national dress

6:00 The power of hanbok diplomacy

12:55 The siren call of Jeju Island

16:15 Diving into the unknown

18:20 Can these traditions survive?

Read Wendy Teo’s article here: https://str.sg/LBkd  

Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR 

Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x  

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Li Xueying ([email protected])

Edited by: Natasha Liew

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

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Trump-Modi friendship was strong, but now US-India ties are strained. What caused the severe turbulence?

Synopsis: The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

In this episode, senior columnist Ravi speaks with Prof Sumit Ganguly, Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution and Director of the Huntington Program on improving US-India relations. 

They discuss the severe turbulence in bilateral ties including the massive tariffs the Trump administration placed on India, India’s refusal to give Trump credit for intervening to stop the India-Pakistan conflict in May, 2025, and the removal of ‘Indo’ from the USIndoPacific Command, now reverted to its old name US Pacific Command – which Indians have taken as a deliberate slight from Washington. 

They also examine the question: Is India playing a waiting game to see Trump off, and can the US really do without Indian backing if it is to maintain influence in the Indian Ocean.

Highlights (click/tap above)

1:04 Why USIndoPacom was changed to USPacom

3:46 ‘Body blows’ to US-India bilateral relationship

7:20 Trump-Modi personal chemistry is gone

8:47 Present situation is an “aberration”

10:48 The Pakistan factor

14:18 End of India’s muscular foreign policy

17:16 Opportunity for China to improve India ties

Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Ravi Velloor ([email protected])

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

YouTube: https://str.sg/rF3qR

Feedback to: [email protected]

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Johor votes in July – but the real contest is whether Malaysia's unity government survives the campaign trail.

Synopsis: Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times analyses the hottest political and trending talking points, alternating between its Malaysia and China bureaus.

For our June episode, ST's Malaysia bureau chief Shannon Teoh and host Zurairi A.R. are joined by Dr Francis Hutchinson, coordinator of the Malaysia Studies Programme at ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

Highlights (click/tap above):

5:20 Johor votes on July 11 – what BN actually needs to achieve in its own fortress state

13:50 What single result in Johor would most change the national political conversation heading into GE16?

21:20 Governing together versus fighting an election together – what would a real PH-BN electoral pact for GE16 actually need to look like?

29:40 BN wants 115 seats; PH won 82 in GE15: Serious, practical negotiations happening for a pact?

32:00 Why did Anwar raise the prospect of a snap election publicly – genuine frustration, or a negotiating tactic?

35:10 Can we book our year-end holidays yet, or is GE16 actually happening in 2026?

39:00 Malaysia bans social media for under-16s – but where do these kids actually go now?

Read more:

Johor vote may shape Negeri Sembilan race as staggered polls raise questions: https://str.sg/4mkFp 

Negeri Sembilan crisis signals end is nigh for Anwar’s unity government: https://str.sg/fsUA 

Where do we go now? Malaysia's under-16 social media ban leaves teens detached and displaced: https://str.sg/tVuZG  

Read Zurairi A.R.’s articles: https://str.sg/DCfr 

Read Shannon Teoh's articles: https://str.sg/wzyK 

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Zurairi A.R. ([email protected])  

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX 

Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts  

Feedback to: [email protected] 

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The menace is everywhere and you can hardly spot it, stop it or punish it.

Synopsis: Every third Friday of the month, The Straits Times gets its US Bureau Chief to analyse the hottest political and trending talking points.

Singapore recently ordered social media platforms to block access to 14 online posts that target the Indian community, such as by suggesting that Singapore was being overrun by Indians.

Investigations showed that the content most likely originated from a platform based in China and was subsequently carried on other platforms and websites, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement on June 6.

In this episode, US Bureau Chief Bhagyashree Garekar chats with a US-based expert who has studied disinformation, defined as organised and systematic efforts to manipulate people and to transmit false narratives.

Darrell West of the Brookings Institution has carried out extensive research on how technologies such as generative AI can be used to create serious threats to personal safety, race relations and governance. 

He is a senior fellow at the Center for Technology Innovation within the Governance Studies programme.

He is the co-author of Lies That Kill: A Citizen’s Guide to Disinformation. It explains how falsehoods spread and what citizens, institutions, and policymakers can do to resist them. 

His bottom line? Only you can protect yourself from disinformation.

Highlights (click/tap above): 

1:03 Disinformation is more than misinformation

4:12 Where is all the disinformation coming from?

5:08 How Iran beat the US in information war

8:10 Does the US use disinformation as well?

10:12 Who’s at the top of the disinfo game?

13:30 Do disinfo producers ever pay a price?

19:04 Disinformation will get worse ahead of US elections

20:41 Only you can protect you

24:32 Are Gen Z better at detecting fakes?

More articles on: 

Singapore blocks online posts targeting Indian community; content likely from China-based platform: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/spore-blocks-online-posts-targeting-indian-community-content-likely-from-china-based-platform

Behind the anti-Indian posts: How social media pages mix divisive narratives with clickbait: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/behind-the-anti-indian-posts-how-social-media-pages-mix-divisive-narratives-with-clickbait

Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo 

Bhagyashree Garekar’s LinkedIn: https://str.sg/gD6E 

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Bhagyashree Garekar ([email protected]) 

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

Feedback to: [email protected]

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Follow more ST podcast channels:

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Can Trump and Xi’s new ‘constructive’ framework bring stability to the US-China dynamic?

Synopsis: Every second Friday of the month, The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

In this episode, host Ravi Velloor speaks with Wang Xiangwei, the eminent Hongkong-based China scholar and former editor-in-chief of South China Morning Post.

Wang, who is soon heading to the Harvard Kennedy School of Government as a Senior Visiting Fellow, offers a Chinese perspective on the changing dynamics of the US-China relationship, with Beijing now treated as a near-peer by Washington, and increasingly able to set the agenda.

US President Donald Trump, he says, is the most China-friendly person in his Cabinet and the days when even Chinese garlic was treated as a national security risk are long over. 

In an odd way, China does not wish to see the US retrench from Asia entirely.

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:26 How things have changed in US-China ties 

5:20 ‘G-2’ is in place now, and China a peer equal

8:55 Goodbye, Indo-Pacific 

13:20 Up ahead, long period of stability

16:17 For the first time, China sets the agenda

20:36 Boards of trade, investment

26:22 Surprise, Surprise…China wants US to stay in Asia!

Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Ravi Velloor ([email protected])

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

Feedback to: [email protected]

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Follow more ST podcast channels:

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Being uber-responsible, people-pleasing and a perfectionist are traits that first-born girls in Asia purportedly have.

Synopsis: Every first Friday of the month, The Straits Times catches up with its foreign correspondents about life and trends in the countries they're based in.

A book in Taiwan on the so-called “eldest daughter syndrome” is now a bestseller translated into other languages. 

It looks at how many first-born women in the East Asian society struggle with perfectionism, people-pleasing, burnout, anxiety and other mental health struggles. This often arises from the profound psychological and physical pressures that they face at home.

What is even more insidious is when these traits carry over from the private space to their workplace. 

Taiwan correspondent Yip Wai Yee, herself a first-born girl, speaks to foreign editor Li Xueying, another first-born girl, on her personal experience, as well as the question: where is all of this coming from?

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:58 What is the eldest daughter syndrome

4:43 Myth vs social expectations

6:29 Eldest daughter syndrome entrenched in Taiwan society

10:17 How it plays into workplace burnout and boundaries

13:55 Managing guilt and saying no as an eldest daughter

Read Yip Wai Yee’s article here: https://str.sg/jbsK 

Read Li Xueying’s articles: https://str.sg/iqmR 

Follow Li Xueying on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/ip4x  

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Li Xueying ([email protected])

Edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

Feedback to: [email protected] 

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Follow more ST podcast channels:

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Twists and turns can be expected for the rest of this year.

Synopsis: Every fourth Friday of the month, The Straits Times will now analyse the hottest political and trending talking points, alternating between its Malaysia and Greater China bureaus.

For May, host and deputy foreign editor Albert Wai teams up again with senior China correspondent Yew Lun Tian. Their focus is on the Xi-Trump summit held in Beijing from May 13-14, 2026. 

Heading into the event, expectations were modest as US President Donald Trump appeared to be distracted by war in the Middle East. At first glance, the deliverables might have seemed slightly underwhelming. 

But the bottom line is both men got a bit of what they needed. Mr Trump got purchases for Boeing jets, agricultural products and possibly energy, while Chinese President Xi Jinping articulated a “new positioning” of bilateral relations.

There are also implications for cross-strait ties, with Beijing framing the Taiwan issue as something to be treated with utmost caution while Washington signalled that it might be rethinking the latest tranche of arms sales to the island.

With many geopolitical issues on the agenda, the tariff war appeared to have taken a back seat. Nonetheless, the announcement on the boards on trade and investment has opened up additional and much-needed room for dialogue.

There are at least three more bouts of engagement between Mr Trump and Mr Xi for the rest of this year, and plenty of opportunities for both sides to bargain and make deals.

Highlights (click/tap above): 

2:34 The world can breathe a sigh of relief

5:14 What is “constructive strategic stability”?

9:09 Temple of Heaven, Imperial Garden: Visit steeped in symbolism

10:43 A captivated Chinese public

13:11 Taiwan should be worried

19:20 Trade tensions take a back seat

21:16 China hugs the US and Russia

Read more: https://str.sg/pyWN 

Register for Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/stnewsletters 

Host: Albert Wai ([email protected]) 

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX 

Feedback to: [email protected] 

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A banquet in Beijing does not alter US-China rivalry but both leaders could sell modest outcomes as wins, says analyst.

Synopsis: Every third Friday of the month, The Straits Times gets its US Bureau Chief to analyse the hottest political and trending talking points.

In this episode, US Bureau Chief Bhagyashree Garekar chats with Han Shen Lin, the China Managing Director for The Asia Group, a strategic advisory firm based in Washington DC. Mr Lin leads the firm’s China operations from its Shanghai office. 

Concurrently, as an Associate Professor of Practice in Finance at NYU Shanghai, he teaches courses in global finance and markets. 

Mr Lin also serves as Chair of the Financial Services Committee at the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

He is a US Marine Corps veteran (Indo-Pacific) and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Ukraine). 

Highlights (click/tap above): 

1:31 Is the summit happening for sure?

3:12 China could get Tehran's attention on a ceasefire, but will they? 

5:39 Why has Trump been so keen to go to China?

7:28 What might be President Xi's top asks? 

9:18 Will they talk about AI? 

11:24 Trump often trolls foreign leaders but treats Xi respectfully. What does Beijing make of this? 

13:54 Will this summit improve ties?

Read Bhagyashree Garekar’s articles: https://str.sg/whNo 

Bhagyashree Garekar’s LinkedIn: https://str.sg/gD6E 

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Bhagyashree Garekar ([email protected]) 

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

Feedback to: [email protected]

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Follow more ST podcast channels:

All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7

Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

The Usual Place Podcast YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast

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India’s poor air is driving much needed investment away from the country. 

Synopsis: The Straits Times’ senior columnist Ravi Velloor distils 45 years of experience covering the Asian continent, with expert guests.

There was a time when China was thought to have the world’s most polluted cities. However, Beijing’s sustained efforts have overturned that situation. Instead, when the question of polluted cities comes up, eyes turn to India now.

According to the noted Harvard economist Gita Gopinath, a former top IMF official, poor air quality is driving investment away from India and is causing more damage to its economy than US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. 

There is enough policy experience, and scientific knowledge, to mitigate the situation. Indeed, India has within itself some of the world’s best scientific brains. The question is whether it has the political will to take the right measures, including pricing essential services such as water appropriately to curb overuse and wastage.

In this wide-ranging conversation, host Ravi Velloor speaks with Chandran Nair, the Malaysian-born, founder and CEO of Hongkong-based Global Institute for Tomorrow on how India could take cues from China to fix its foul air and water.

Mr Nair, a biochemical engineer who in 1994, set up the first foreign environment consultancy in China. He is also a frequent traveller to China and India. He is also a sceptic of the consumption-based growth model that he says is causing irreparable damage to the environment. 

Highlights (click/tap above)

3:42 China’s journey from ‘most polluted’ nation

10:52 India’s dismal environmental situation

14:26 Faulty growth models

17:37 Democratic non-dividend: India cannot do a China

22:42 Why utilities like water need to be priced right

Read Ravi's columns: https://str.sg/3xRP

Follow Ravi on X: https://twitter.com/RaviVelloor

Sign up for ST’s weekly Asian Insider newsletter: https://str.sg/sfpz 

Host: Ravi Velloor ([email protected])

Produced and edited by: Fa’izah Sani

Executive producer: Ernest Luis

Follow Asian Insider Podcast on Fridays here:

Channel: https://str.sg/JWa7 

Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/JWa8 

Spotify: https://str.sg/JWaX

Feedback to: [email protected]

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Follow more ST podcast channels:

All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7

Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts

The Usual Place Podcast YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa

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Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section:

The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB

Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX

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