ChinaTalk

By Jordan Schneider

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

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How many episodes does ChinaTalk have?

The podcast currently has 537 episodes available.

ChinaTalk episodes:

August 19, 2024History and Future of Global Patent Policy
Thanks to The Innovation Alliance for sponsoring this episode. The Innovation Alliance is a coalition of research and development-based technology companies representing innovators, patent owners, and stakeholders who believe in the critical importance of maintaining a strong patent system that supports innovative enterprises of all sizes.
To discuss the domestic and international implications of patent policy, ChinaTalk interviewed Brian Pomper. Brian was the Chief International Trade Counsel to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, and he is now a partner at Akin Gump.
We discuss:
The history of America’s innovation hegemony, from the signing of the Constitution to patent trolls and Elon Musk
Why big tech companies spent decades systematically attacking the foundations of the US patent system
The thermonuclear patent war of Apple vs Samsung
The evolution of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) as a battleground for emerging tech competition
Why China’s approach to patent litigation is causing controversy in Europe
The intersection of patent policy and international trade agreements.

Outtro music: Minitel Rose - Magic Powder (Youtube Link)
Here's the 2-hour show on global tech standards from the ChinaTalk archives: Global Standards: What's the Deal? Spotify link, Apple Podcasts Link

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58min
August 13, 2024Industrial Icebreaker Policy
Here at ChinaTalk, we break the ice on all things international relations, and today we are diving into a topic that is snow joke — icebreakers!
We interviewed William Henagan and Robert Obayda, both directors of the NSC. We discuss:
How Canada, Finland, and the United States are leveling up their cooperation in the Arctic through the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (ICE Pact);
The mechanics of industrial policy in the US government;
Why cranes matter for national security, and the benefits of using carrots vs sticks;
What icebreakers are for, and how Finland is punching above its weight in the NATO alliance.

Co-hosting today is former ChinaTalk intern Alexander Boyd, who is currently at the China Digital Times.
Outtro music: Arctic Monkeys — A Certain Romance (link) and Mardy Bum (link)
Pictured: the Russian icebreaker Yamal.

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1h 7min
August 06, 2024The Pentagon’s Innovation Insurgents
Chris Kirchhoff was a founding member of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and previously worked in the Obama NSC. He recently published a book called Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War. He wrote:
“To the extent present military and civilian leadership is articulating its strategy, it is one built, for the most part, on a continuation of previous programmatic and budgetary trendlines. If there is a strategy for losing a future war in China, this is it.”
Unit X traces the evolution of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a group of Pentagon insurgents who are fighting to change how the DoD relates to emerging technologies.
We discuss:
The origin story of DIU and its early struggles to break Pentagon bureaucracy;
How DIU leveraged “waiver authority” to circumvent red tape under Defense Secretary Ash Carter;
Why the defense industrial base is ill-equipped to keep pace with technological change;
The case for shifting more DoD spending to non-traditional tech companies;
Lessons from commercial spaceflight for future AI governance, including potential issues with a “Manhattan project for AI.”

Outtro music: 告五人 Accusefive - 愛人錯過 Somewhere in Time (Youtube Link)

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1h 16min
August 05, 2024The Pentagon’s Innovation Insurgents
[If the outtro music comes in early for you, try the other upload]
Chris Kirchhoff was a founding member of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and previously worked in the Obama NSC. He recently published a book called Unit X: How the Pentagon and Silicon Valley Are Transforming the Future of War. He wrote:
“To the extent present military and civilian leadership is articulating its strategy, it is one built, for the most part, on a continuation of previous programmatic and budgetary trendlines. If there is a strategy for losing a future war in China, this is it.”
Unit X traces the evolution of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), a group of Pentagon insurgents who are fighting to change how the DoD relates to emerging technologies.
We discuss:
The origin story of DIU and its early struggles to break Pentagon bureaucracy;
How DIU leveraged “waiver authority” to circumvent red tape under Defense Secretary Ash Carter;
Why the defense industrial base is ill-equipped to keep pace with technological change;
The case for shifting more DoD spending to non-traditional tech companies;
Lessons from commercial spaceflight for future AI governance, including potential issues with a “Manhattan project for AI.”

Outtro music: 告五人 Accusefive - 愛人錯過 Somewhere in Time (Youtube Link)

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1h 16min
August 01, 2024The Chips Act and National Security
After decades of neoliberalism, how much can America’s bureaucrats crank the dial on effective industrial policy? Will the CHIPS Act succeed at reshoring high-tech manufacturing?
Next week is the Chips Act’s second anniversary. To discuss, ChinaTalk interviewed Ben Schwartz, the former director for national security at the CHIPS Program Office, which manages a $39 billion grant program appropriated by the CHIPS and Science Act.
We get into:
The methods and obstacles for American semiconductor policy;
How CHIPS Act guardrails aim to balance economic growth and national security;
The negotiation process for companies interested in receiving CHIPS Act funding;
Reshoring vs friend-shoring and the challenge of Chinese dominance in legacy chip manufacturing;
Staffing and organizational structure of the CHIPS Program Office, plus the role of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo;
The challenge of collecting data on secretive semiconductor supply chains.

Outtro Music: The Rolling Stones - You Can’t Always Get What You Want (Youtube Link)

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1h 4min
July 22, 2024A BREATHER: Making Clothes in China
This is a show about globalization, fashion design, and the future of manufacturing-based economic growth.
For a breather from the election chaos, ChinaTalk interviewed Will Lasry, Montreal-based designer, manufacturing specialist, and founder of Glass Factory. Will and his team are on a mission to make manufacturing transparent. They fly all around the world making documentaries on clothing factories and playing matchmaker between designers and producers. Check out his Youtube channel here.
We discuss:
How clothes are made, including the complicated processes behind distressed denim and other trends;
What makes a country an ideal destination for manufacturing clothing, and whether rising labor costs will drive the industry out of China entirely;
Xinjiang cotton, environmental destruction, and other unethical practices hanging over the fashion industry;
Why Gucci and other high-end designers are betting that “Made in India” will soon be even more chic than “Made in Italy.”

Co-hosting today is longtime ChinaTalk editor Irene Zhang.
Outtro music: Vinida Weng - WAIYA! (Youtube Link)
Thumbnail image: Link.

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1h 16min
July 17, 2024 EMERGENCY POD: JD Vance's Economics + How to SPR Critical Minerals + Policy Entrepreneurship
What does JD think about currency, tariffs, and industrial policy?
How has the Strategic Patroleum Reserve evolved into new relevance with some fun new powers over the past few years, and how can America take lessons from this success and apply them to addressing critical minerals?
And what secrets of policy entrepreneurship can Arnab teach me?
To discuss we have on Arnab Datta of Employ America and Matt Klein of The Overshoot podcast.
Plus we get some parent corner!
Outtro music: Melody by Ash Island (matched my mood of wanting to scream things I don't understand) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHWWGm0nxYk

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1h 30min
July 15, 2024Sen. Young on Tech Legislation
Where is Congress on AI? How will a second Trump term impact US innovation? Does Congress have what it takes to step up and legislate in a world without Chevron?
To discuss, ChinaTalk interviewed Senator Todd Young of Indiana (R). He’s a rare breed on Capitol Hill these days: an actual legislator. Sen. Young drafted the Chips and Science Act with Sen. Schumer and is the co-author of my personal favorite bill this Congress which aims to establish an Office of Global Competition Analysis. He announced earlier this year that he would not be endorsing Trump’s candidacy this cycle.
We get into…
Biden’s woes
The case for an office of tech net assessment
The future of tech legislation post-Chevron
The Senate’s AI Policy Roadmap and where the GOP is on AI regulation
Chinese espionage and high-skill immigration policy

Outtro music: AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Youtube Link)

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41min
July 12, 2024 EMERGENCY POD: Biden and Shakespeare
How can Shakespeare help explain the dynamics we're seeing around Biden today?
We get into King Lear, Richard II, Macbeth and Coriolanus to illustrate themes on conniving courtiers, political marriages, and politicians facing the end.
Joining us today: Eliot Cohen, author of The Hollow Crown, two dramaturgs Drew Lichtenberg and Kate Pitt, as well as actor Phil Schneider.
Kate's substack: https://shakespearenews.substack.com/
Phil's still looking for an agent! Reach out to me [email protected] to connect with him!
Outtro music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEqnXNsAFL8

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1h 15min
July 02, 2024A National Vision for Competitiveness
What will it take for the US to remain competitive in 21st-century technologies? Is high state capacity a thing of the past?
To discuss, ChinaTalk interviewed David Lin, Abigail Kukura, and Venkat Somala from the Special Competitive Studies Project. SCSP’s new report outlines exactly how America should compete in the tech-powered future of geopolitics.
We get into…
The role of public-private research partnerships and SCSP’s relationship with the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence;
A strategy for upgrading US institutions with the help of emerging technologies like AI;
The historical decline of government-backed research in the US;
China’s industrial espionage and the potential for stolen innovations to consolidate authoritarianism across the globe;
Bureaucratic moonshots and techniques for communicating urgency to the slow-moving American polity.

Our past episode on tech net assessment: Crafting A National Tech Strategy and Reviving Net Tech Assesment (Spotify Link) (Apple Podcasts Link)
Our past episode on bureaucratic moonshots: Peter Harrell on Bureaucratic Barriers to Competition (Spotify Link) (Apple Podcasts Link)
Outtro music: SadSvit - Касета (Youtube Link)

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48min

FAQs about ChinaTalk:

How many episodes does ChinaTalk have?

The podcast currently has 537 episodes available.

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