ChinaTalk

By Jordan SchneiderNews Technology Government Politics

Favorites
126
Followers
Typical duration
71 min
per episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

ChinaTalk episodes

November 15, 2025 Second Breakfast: Acquisition Reform? Are We Really Doing It?
Justin and Eric cohost with Pete Modigliani and Matt McGregor, coauthors of the Defense Tech and Acquisition substack (https://defenseacquisition.substack.com/).
Chapters
16:24 The Future of Defense Technology and Startups
33:37 Cultural Shifts in Acquisition Practices
44:57 Taskers and Bureaucratic Inefficiencies
55:06 Vendor Lock and Software Solutions
Outtro music: more suno slop https://suno.com/s/FVtn90DmV8xuLcfp

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 5 min
November 11, 2025 Overfit: AI Lovers, Chinese Model Takeover, Vice Signalling, Hefei Model
Jasmine Sun (https://jasmi.news/), Nathan Lambert (https://www.interconnects.ai/), and special guest Afra Wang (https://afraw.substack.com/).
Our article on 'China makes AI girlfriends and America makes AI boyfriends' https://www.chinatalk.media/p/why-america-builds-ai-girlfriends
More on the Hefei model: https://hellochinatech.substack.com/p/china-hefei-model
05:53 ai
12:46 remorseful AI models
29:43 AI in porn
32:17 ai voice generation uncanny valley
34:55 good Chinese AI models and the hefei model
47:40 Vice Signaling
Outtro music: a suno song with kimi-generated generated lyrics called "A glitch in the gospel" https://suno.com/s/O8tIJ63c7t3NOEtO

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr
November 07, 2025Second Breakfast: Colby's Pigpen, Counter-UAS, Training, Eat like a Trumper (or Iranian Spy?)
we cooked better than cafe milano
00:00 Colby's trainwreck of a hearing + right wing DC food
16:42 Countering Drones
35:32 How to train seriously
Guests include:
Tony Stark, Army vet who writes https://www.breakingbeijing.com/

Justin McIntosh, former Green beret who writes https://justinmc.substack.com/

Eric Robinson, lawyer and Army vet who spent time in OSC, JSOC and the NCTC
Outtro music: more suno https://suno.com/s/hpZX8pdjirTsM5je

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 6 min
November 06, 2025 EMERGENCY POD: Tariffs on Trial
Peter Harrell and Oren Cass join the show to talk IEEPA at the Supreme Court and broader US grand strategy towards China.
03:01 IEPA Tariffs and Their Implications
17:27 Reciprocity and Trade Agreements
20:13 USMCA and Fortress North America
39:01 Decoupling from China: A Strategic Perspective
43:41 Trump's Economic Approach to China
47:48 The Chips Debate: National Security and Economic Interests
01:05:24 Reflections on Political Discourse and Legal Arguments
01:16:17 a ridiculous suno song
We discuss Oren's 'Grand Strategy of Reciprocity' https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/grand-strategy-reciprocity and 'Stop Selling the Rope' essays https://americancompass.org/stop-selling-the-rope/
Outtro music: Suno does Hamilton for this case https://suno.com/s/xPRkTjq5KQ4MPXLb
Peter's amicus brief: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-1287/380641/20251024173045050_24-1287%2025-150%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 22 min
November 02, 2025CCP Bureaucracies in War
Why do leaders with vast expert bureaucracies at their fingertips make devastating foreign policy decisions? Tyler Jost, professor at Brown, joins ChinaTalk to discuss his first book, Bureaucracies at War, a fascinating analysis of miscalculation in international conflicts.
As we travel from Mao’s role in border conflicts, to Deng’s blunder in Vietnam, to LBJ’s own Vietnam error, a tragic pattern emerges — leaders gradually isolating themselves from their own information gathering systems with catastrophic consequences.
Today our conversation covers…
How Mao’s early success undermined his long-term decision-making,

The role of succession pressures in both Deng’s and LBJ’s actions in Vietnam,

The bureaucratic mechanisms that lead to echo chambers, and how China’s siloed institutions affect Xi’s governance,

The lingering question of succession in China,

What we can learn from the institutional failures behind Vietnam and Iraq.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 22 min
October 30, 2025 Second Breakfast: Xi-Trump, Taiwan Deterrence, Tibetan Buddhism, Antietam
Featuring the Kirsten and Charlotte Asdal alongside Tony (https://www.breakingbeijing.com/) Eric Robinson, Justin (https://justinmc.substack.com/) and myself
Chapters
02:55 US-China Relations: Punctuated Decoupling
05:52 Woo Trump didn't sell out Taiwan! But what if he did?
08:21 Xi Jinping's Confidence and Military Calculations
24:12 Blockades
28:54 Innovation vs. Production in Defense Technology
43:08 Book Recommendations and Cultural Reflections
44:57 Game of the Week: Historical Insights
Outtro music: suno' s version of bad bunny singing about antietam. I promise I won't do this for every episode outtro until the AI gets better.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
54 min
October 30, 2025Ukraine's Drone War with Shashank and Rob Lee
Joining the pod today are Rob Lee of FPRI, Shashank Joshi of the Economist, and Tony Stark of the Breaking Beijing substack.
We discuss…
Whether Ukraine represents a revolution in military affairs and what lessons the war holds for other theaters

Why roughly 80% of casualties in Ukraine are caused by UAVs, and the symbiotic relationship between artillery and drones,

The limits of FPVs and UAVs, tactics to counter UAV attacks, and the role of unmanned ground vehicles,

Institutional friction within the Ukrainian forces,

How Chinese components and commercial drones from DJI are shaping the battlefield.

Drone incidents over Europe, burden sharing, and the US policy climate.
Outro music: Leon Bridges and Khruangbin - Texas Sun, a song that made it onto a 2022 playlist a reporter made of songs they heard on the front in Ukraine (⁠https://open.spotify.com/playlist/72paG2c3VqKblZsZlsCBOx?si=ace9197c40c6440f⁠)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 35 min
October 29, 2025 Japan's New Prime Minister: What to Expect
Tobias Harris of the Observing Japan substack returns to catch us up on the new Prime Minister. We get into what Takaichii's deal is, chart her rise to power, explore the domestic constraints she'll operate under, and what she will mean for Japan's international relations and defense policy.
Chapters:
00:00 Election Upset and Political Drama
07:43 The Rise of Takaichi, Her Political Background and Style
24:27 National Defense and International Relations
40:58 Coalition Challenges and Government Stability
48:33 Implications of a Minority Government
01:03:47 How She'll Do With Trump
Outtro Music: Gotta - Tade Dust

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 15 min
October 29, 2025Ukraine's Drone War with Shashank and Rob Lee
Joining the pod today are Rob Lee of FPRI, Shashank Joshi of the Economist, and Tony Stark of the Breaking Beijing substack.
We discuss…
Whether Ukraine represents a revolution in military affairs and what lessons the war holds for other theaters

Why roughly 80% of casualties in Ukraine are caused by UAVs, and the symbiotic relationship between artillery and drones,

The limits of FPVs and UAVs, tactics to counter UAV attacks, and the role of unmanned ground vehicles,

Institutional friction within the Ukrainian forces,

How Chinese components and commercial drones from DJI are shaping the battlefield.

Drone incidents over Europe, burden sharing, and the US policy climate.
Outro music: Leon Bridges and Khruangbin - Texas Sun, a song that made it onto a 2022 playlist a reporter made of songs they heard on the front in Ukraine (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/72paG2c3VqKblZsZlsCBOx?si=ace9197c40c6440f)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 hr 35 min
October 23, 2025 Second Breakfast: Venezuela, Shutdowns, PE + Army, E.B. Sledge
Bryan, Eric, and Justin join the fun.
00:00 Venezuela
16:08 Shutdown Effects on Military Operations
34:45 The PE Army Takeover + Datacenters
46:32 Submarine Detection and Naval Strategy
48:44 Sledge
Outtro Music: Botaste la Bola, Un Solo Pueblo

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
53 min

About ChinaTalk

From the publisher's feed

Conversations exploring China, technology, and US-China relations. Guests include a wide range of analysts, policymakers, and academics. Hosted by Jordan Schneider.