Forty years ago, Shenzhen was a small southern Chinese fishing village, just across the border from Hong Kong. Today, it's one of the world's most advanced megacities, with a population of nearly 20 million people and home to many of the tech industry's largest companies, including Huawei, Tencent, DJI, and Transsion, among countless others.

That remarkable transformation within a single lifetime offers important lessons for Kenya, Vietnam, and other developing countries seeking to build their own technology hubs.

Grace Yuehan Wang, a visiting scholar at the London School of Economics and a research fellow at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, joins Eric to discuss her new book, which explores how Shenzhen was able to develop so quickly and what lessons its remarkable rise offers countries across the Global South seeking to build their own technology hubs.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

🏙️ Shenzhen's rise as a global tech hub 🇨🇳 Why Shenzhen isn't China's Silicon Valley 🏛️ The role of local government 💡 Grassroots innovation and entrepreneurship 🌍 Lessons for the Global South 🚀 Can the Shenzhen model be replicated?

Show Notes:

• Amazon: Dragon Innovation: Shenzhen: Lessons for the West and global south countries from China's leading innovation cluster by Grace Yuehan Wang
• ThinkChina: Shenzhen: The city that built China's tech empire by Chen Xiangming and Taylor Lynch Ogan
• Financial Times: China's Xi pursues AI diplomacy to woo the Global South by Joe Leahy and Eleanor Olcott

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China and India are entering a cautious period of diplomatic re-engagement after years of confrontation, but deep strategic mistrust, unresolved border disputes, and competing security interests continue to define the relationship. Economic cooperation is gradually resuming even as political tensions remain unresolved.

At the same time, shifting global power dynamics are reshaping the balance between Asia's two largest powers.

Sushant Singh, a lecturer in South Asian studies at Yale University, joins Eric from New Delhi to explain how changing Chinese perceptions of India, evolving trade priorities, BRICS diplomacy, and the broader U.S.-China rivalry are creating new opportunities for engagement while reinforcing the structural challenges that make a lasting rapprochement difficult.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• 🇨🇳 Why China's view of India is changing
• 🏔️ The slow thaw after the Galwan border crisis
• 🤝 Can trade recover despite political mistrust?
• 🌏 How U.S.-China rivalry is reshaping India-China ties
• 🌐 BRICS, the Quad, and Asia's evolving strategic landscape
• 🔮 What comes next for one of the world's most consequential relationships

Show Notes:

• South China Morning Post: India and China revive Himalayan trade at high-altitude pass by Junaid Kathju
• The Diplomat: Why India Does Not Interest China by Akhilesh Pillalamarri
• East Asia Forum: China–India rapprochement is tactical, not strategic by Chietigj Bajpaee

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As competition between the United States and China intensifies, Southeast Asia has emerged as one of the world's most important geopolitical battlegrounds. But despite growing tensions in the South China Sea and mounting pressure from Washington and Beijing, public opinion across much of the region remains more favorable toward China than many policymakers assume.

A new report from the Asia Society Policy Institute reveals how economic ties, consumer brands, and everyday interactions are reshaping perceptions of China in Southeast Asia. Kevin Zhongzhe Li, one of the report's lead authors, joins Eric from Jakarta to explain why this trend is particularly important in the region's "swing" states.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• Why China is gaining an edge over the U.S. in Southeast Asia
• How public opinion toward China has shifted over the past two decades
• The role of Chinese investment, EVs, and consumer brands in shaping perceptions
• Why South China Sea disputes affect countries differently
• The gap between elite and public views of China across the region
• Common U.S. and Chinese misconceptions about Southeast Asia

Show Notes:

• Asia Society Policy Institute: Global Public Opinion on China: China's Standing in Southeast Asia's Swing States by Kevin Zhongshe Li
• South China Morning Post: 'Practical' young Africans leaning towards China over US and away from ideology by Jevans Nyabiage
• Pew Research Center: Views of China and Xi Are Improving Globally by Laura Silver, Jonathan Schulman, Laura Clancy and William Miner

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There's growing optimism across Africa, Latin America, and Asia that abundant reserves of critical minerals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel can fuel a new era of economic development. Determined to avoid the "resource curse" that enriched foreign companies while leaving local populations behind, governments are increasingly moving to ban exports of raw ores and instead promote domestic processing and refining.

It's an appealing strategy, but far more difficult to implement than many realize.

Wei Shen and Anabel Marín, senior research fellows at the Institute of Development Studies in London, argue that processing alone won't transform resource-rich economies. In a new paper, they explain why lasting prosperity depends on building the knowledge, institutions, and technological capabilities needed to move up the value chain. They join Eric to discuss what it will really take for developing countries to turn critical mineral wealth into sustainable development.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• Why critical minerals alone won't create prosperity
• Can resource nationalism break the resource curse?
• Why processing isn't enough to move up the value chain
• The role of knowledge and state capacity in development
• What China got right in building its mineral industry
• How developing countries can capture more value from critical minerals

Show Notes:

• WATCH: Critical minerals and development: Breaking the structural impasse with Wei Shen and Anabel Marín
• Institute of Development Studies: China's role in critical mineral mining and its impacts by Wei Shen
• Institute of Development Studies: Living in a material world: What critical minerals mean for development by Wei Shen and Anabel Marín

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There's an emerging consensus that China is among the chief beneficiaries of the escalating conflict between the United States and Iran. While Beijing has undoubtedly welcomed Washington becoming entangled in yet another war in West Asia, and continues to reap commercial gains from booming exports of electric vehicles and other technologies, the conflict is also exposing the limits of China's geopolitical influence.

China is, first and foremost, a commercial power in the Persian Gulf. Beyond trade and investment, however, it has little diplomatic, political, or security leverage to shape the course of the conflict or influence the region's postwar order.

Jonathan Fulton, an associate professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi and author of the China-MENA Newsletter, joins Eric to examine why China's economic footprint in the Gulf has not translated into strategic influence.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• Is China really benefiting from the Iran war?
• Why Beijing won't replace the U.S. in the Gulf
• The limits of China's geopolitical influence
• China's commercial strategy in the Middle East
• Gulf views on balancing China and America
• What comes next for China-Gulf relations

Show Notes:

• Sign up to The China-MENA Substack Newsletter: https://chinamenanewsletter.substack.com/
• The Diplomat: After the Iran War, China's Middle East Strategy Will Prioritize the Gulf by Chenjie Song
• The Guardian: China is a clear winner from Trump's war in Middle East, report concludes by Amy Hawkins

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Two weeks ago, a PLA Navy submarine in the South China Sea test-fired a nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile that flew 7,300 kilometers before splashing down in the South Pacific. The launch drew sharp criticism from several Pacific Island countries, whose leaders argued that it violated the region's longstanding identity as a nuclear-free zone.

To be clear, the test did not violate international law or established norms. The United States, France, and other nuclear powers have conducted similar missile tests in the Pacific for decades.

Even so, Zhang Denghua, a senior research fellow at the Australian National University's Department of Pacific Affairs and CGSP's non-resident fellow for the Pacific, argues that the launch could erode Beijing's hard-earned influence in the region. He joins Eric to discuss the strategic implications of the test, China's intensifying competition with traditional powers in the Pacific, and why Taiwan remains such a potent issue for Beijing in this part of the world.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• China's unprecedented Pacific missile test
• Why Pacific leaders condemned the launch
• Australia's new Pacific security partnerships
• China's growing rivalry with regional powers
• Papua New Guinea closes Taiwan office
• What's next at the Pacific Islands Forum

Show Notes:

• The China-Global South Project: What To Know About China's Recent Missile Test in the South Pacific by Zhang Denghua
• The China-Global South Project: How Pacific Island Nations Are Capitalizing on Major Power Rivalry by Zhang Denghua
• The China-Global South Project: Japan is Eyeing China's Moves in the Pacific by Zhang Denghua

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China's suspension of rare earth exports to Japan has now entered its seventh month, with shipments in June again falling to a fraction of their level a year earlier. The restrictions are one sign of a broader collapse in relations between the two countries since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office last fall.

The relationship, long marked by tension, deteriorated sharply after Takaichi said that Chinese military action against Taiwan would "threaten Japan's survival." Since then, ties have continued to worsen.

William Yang, senior Northeast Asia analyst at the International Crisis Group, joins Eric to explain the politics driving this increasingly dangerous confrontation and why its consequences will be felt across Asia.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• Why China-Japan relations are unraveling
• China's rare earth pressure on Japan
• Taiwan's role in the growing dispute
• Japan's expanding regional security strategy
• The future of the U.S.-Japan alliance
• What's next for Northeast Asia?

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The U.S. and China clashed at the United Nations this week, with each accusing the other of fueling instability in the Persian Gulf. Washington has long argued that Beijing plays a pivotal role in the conflict as the largest buyer of Iranian oil and a supplier of dual-use technologies that could support Tehran's military.

Many experts, however, dispute that assessment. They argue that China's ability to influence Iran is far more limited than commonly assumed and that there is little evidence Tehran would bow to Chinese pressure on matters of national security. Nor is there any indication that Beijing is willing to use whatever leverage it may have.

Jesse Marks, CEO of the Asia-Middle East consultancy Rihla Research & Advisory and a leading scholar of Chinese diplomacy in the region, joins Eric to explain why Beijing is likely to remain a largely passive player, both as the war continues and in whatever political settlement eventually emerges.

Show Notes:

• East Asia Forum: Iran's bid for Beijing's backing meets its limits by Jesse Marks
• Arab Gulf States Institute: China's Mediation Ceiling in the Iran War by Jesse Marks
• Gulf International Forum: Parallel, Not Replacement: Why China Can't Supplant U.S. Security in the Gulf by Jesse Marks & Chenjie Song

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• China and the U.S. clash at the UN
• Does Beijing have leverage over Iran?
• Why China's diplomacy has limits
• Pakistan's role in Iran mediation
• The future Gulf security order
• What China wants after the war

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The U.S. war against Iran is having a profound impact far away from the battlefield, all the way on the other side of Asia in the Western Pacific. There's an emerging consensus among Washington's allies and foes alike that the U.S. will be incapable, unwilling, or a mix of both to fight a war against China in this part of the world.

That's prompting a rapid reevaluation of security postures across the region, a shift on full display over the past week: Australia moving to bolster security ties in the South Pacific and Japan building what many see as a new security architecture for the post-American order.

Derek Grossman, CGSP's non-resident fellow for the Asia-Pacific and a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, joins Eric to discuss the week's key events in the South China Sea, South Pacific, and Japan's latest moves to build a new intelligence agency.

• South China Sea tribunal at 10
• China's Pacific missile test
• Japan's security shift
• Philippines vs. Vietnam on China
• U.S. alliances under Trump
• Asia's changing security landscape

Show Notes:

• The China-Global South Project: Japan Emerges as Asia's New Strategic Anchor by Derek Grossman
• Nikkei Asia: Vietnam's new balancing act in an unbalanced world by Derek Grossman
• International Crisis Group: Manila's Push for a New Rulebook in the South China Sea Peters Out by Derek Grossman

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With open conflict between the U.S. and Iran now underway again, it's still too early to determine which side will ultimately prevail. But one point is gaining broad agreement among analysts: China is one of the few major powers that stands to benefit from the war.

The conflict has accelerated several trends that work in Beijing's favor. It has driven greater use of the Chinese yuan in international trade, boosted exports of Chinese solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles, and, perhaps most importantly, stretched U.S. military resources. Some analysts now argue that the strain has made the Pentagon's long-standing ambition of being able to fight two major wars simultaneously increasingly unrealistic.

Ahmed Aboudou, an associate fellow at Chatham House in London and head of the China section at the Emirates Policy Center in Abu Dhabi, is among the scholars who believe the war has created significant strategic opportunities for Beijing. He joins Eric to explain why Chinese policymakers may be quietly pleased with how the conflict is unfolding.

📌 Topics Covered in This Episode

• China's strategic gains from the Iran war
• The yuan's expanding international role
• Why Chinese exports are surging
• The strain on U.S. military capacity
• Is the Pentagon's two-war strategy over?
• How Beijing views the unfolding conflict

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