After the sudden emergence of the Chinese company DeepSeek’s generative AI model in January, there has been much excitement about the future of innovation in China. But continuing US efforts to limit the sale of the latest AI chips to China are a reminder of the tensions surrounding this area. The recently announced deal for a partial US takeover of Chinese social media platform TikTok’s American operation may hint at the potential for cooperation. But Jensen Huang, CEO of chipmaker Nvidia, has warned that restrictions on chip production will only encourage the development of China’s own semiconductor industry, with China already just ‘nanoseconds behind’ in AI. Yet how far is Chinese innovation handicapped by political controls? And as China seeks to promote new sectors like robotics and cloud computing, can it avoid the type of overcapacity already seen in its electric vehicle industry? To discuss these issues, we’re joined by Duncan Clark, a specialist in Chinese technology since 1994, when he founded the investment advisory company BDA in Beijing. An early advisor to Jack Ma, founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, he’s also author of the book ‘Alibaba — The House that Jack Ma Built’, and is co-chair of the Asia Society France.

Books referred to in the episode:

• Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang
• Apple in China – The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company by Patrick McGee

Image © 光画社 (Kōgasha) / Adobe Stock

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The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute.
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Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

This month’s huge parade in Beijing for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Asia prompted much debate — both about the array of new missiles, drones and other military technology on display, and about the presence of not only Vladimir Putin, but also the North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un. But while Beijing is happy to demonstrate its newfound military confidence, the parade is also a reminder of the increased attention China has been paying to its own role in World War II, with a growing number of museums and exhibits dedicated not only to its fight against Japan, but also — despite current tensions — to wartime military cooperation between China and the US, in the form of the Flying Tigers and the Doolittle Raiders. Melinda Liu, veteran Beijing bureau chief of Newsweek, and Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society in Beijing, discusses the contemporary resonances of these wartime echoes, as well her family connection to a period of history which is becoming an increasingly important aspect of the image China presents to the world.

Photo: Kremlin.ru / CC BY 4.0

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The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute.
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SOAS China Institute (SCI)

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Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, marked his 90th birthday earlier this month with an announcement that his successor as Tibetan Buddhism’s most senior religious figure would be a reincarnation, to be identified after his death by the staff of his office in Dharamsala in northern India — where he has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. The announcement is likely to set up a clash with Beijing, which says it alone has the right to confirm the selection of the next Dalai Lama, and points to its possession of historical relics, including a golden urn from the Qing dynasty traditionally used to select the reincarnations of senior lamas. So how will Tibetans inside and outside China respond if two different Dalai Lamas are nominated? Could the exiled community abandon the current Dalai Lama’s emphasis on seeking only autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule? And how will this affect India, which has offered shelter to the Tibetan exiled administration, but has recently been seeking to improve its relations with Beijing? Tsering Shakya, professor of Tibetan history at the University of British Columbia, and Robbie Barnett, professorial research associate at SOAS and former professor of contemporary Tibetan studies at Columbia University, join us to share their thoughts.

Photo by Norbu Gyachung

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The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute.
________________________________________

SOAS China Institute (SCI)

• SCI Blog
• SCI on X
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• SCI on Instagram

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Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0