In this episode we take a deep dive into the contradictions of the Chinese economy - and what made it so successful in the first place. Is the Chinese miracle - or rather as our distinguished guest Xu Chenggang likes to call it - the Chinese riddle going to continue or has its meteoric rise already peaked? We examine Xi Jingping´s economic policy, try to distinguish real from fake growth figures and seek to find out why the island of Hainan seeks to attract investors by pledging to "arrest...

For many years, the West had great hopes on China. That market economy would eventually lead to democracy or at least a liberalization. But even as these hopes did not materialize, a West in nearly constant crisis was grateful for a Chinese government that other than the Russian one did not exploit its weaknesses, but rather stabilized the system. In the recent past however disillusionment set it. The US and Europe started to realize that not only was Beijing not willing to play by the rules...

Recently there has been talk about "a New Cold War". Is this exaggerated - or are we already in it? In this episode we discuss with Chinese expert Da Wei about some contentious issues. Is the worsening of relations between China and the West inevitable? Is the US a declining power? What has Beijing learned from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, especially with regard to its relation with Taiwan? Da Wei is the Director of the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at...

Taiwan Trilogy 2023 War takes many forms. China has been launching a highly sophisticated and intensive disinformation war on social media, while trying to infiltrate Taiwanese society, government and military. To fight these unconventional wars in an open society like Taiwan is very difficult, but not completely impossible. In the last episode of Sea of Change Podcast’s Taiwan Trilogy, we talked with Professor Puma Shen on his study on these issues. He shared with us his fascinating...

Taiwan Trilogy 2023 It has been more than one year that Russia invaded Ukraine - and in Taiwan citizens, analysts and politicians ponder upon which lessons Taiwan can learn from it. Is there any way that a Chinese invasion could be avoided? What could be the most likely war strategy taken by China? How can Taiwan deal with it? Is China's grey zone warfare dividing Taiwanese society? Can Taiwan rely on the US and other allies? In the second part of our Taiwan Trilogy, Sea of Change...

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine a lot of international attention has been shifting to Taiwan – will China eventually attack the island? The Communist Party of China has been vowing to take over Taiwan since 1949. For a long time this promise sounded rather hollow, as the People’s Liberation Army did not have the capacity for such a daunting venture, but with the massive upgrading of the Chinese military such a move could be more and more likely. As the China Taiwan conflict is so...

This is an episode we have been looking for for quite some while. The Overseas Chinese are one of the largest migrant groups in the world – and they are very much thought after by the Chinese Communist Party. Again and again it stresses the notion of an umbilical chord that connects them to their „motherland“ - as it wants to awaken their patriotism. But many Overseas Chinese of the second or third generation are well integrated into their hosting countries and feel not so connected to China...

Most of the major economies in the world are struggling with recession, but not Indonesia. This most populous country in Southeast Asia even managed to maintain strong export and import during the pandemic, and witnessed a strong rebound after the Covid 2019 crisis. Its inflation rate is relatively low and has one of the best performing Asian currencies. It has a growing young population, a prospering electronic vehicle industry and tech innovation sector. It is attracting foreign investment...

On 9 December 2022, another military conflict happened at the disputed border region between India and China, injuring at least two dozen soldiers on both sides. This incident has added to a series of Sino-Indian border conflicts since May 2020. New resentment is brewing between the world's two most populous countries and nuclear powers, fueling further nationalistic sentiments and might lead to more confrontations in turn. Although there should be little concern for an imminent war between...

In Oct. 2022, The Biden administration published a CHIPS and Science Act with a sweeping set of export controls to cut China off from certain semiconductor chips made anywhere in the world with US tools. This marked a significant escalation of the Chip War launched by the US against a rising China. Washington knows that advanced semiconductor technology is crucial to maintaining its military superiority. Despite the fact that our modern lives depend on semiconductors every day, few of us...

From rather clumsy beginnings the Chinese government has become very skilful in the way it exerts influence on the policy making process of the countries it deals with. It uses not only a wide variety of means but also recruits civilian actors like students, business associations and so on. In this episode we will be looking at a very sophisticated strategy that Beijing uses to influence other countries: the United Front. The United Front developed by the Chinese Communist Party has had a...

China's port and shipping industry is expanding rapidly. Beijing now has investments in more than 100 harbors in 63 countries. And it wants to buy even more, extending its global dominance in shipping. But not every acquisition is easy. In the autumn of 2022, German chancellor Olaf Scholz decided to sell 24,9% of the shares of container terminal Tollerort, one of the four container terminals in Hamburg port to Cosco, a Chinese state-owned company. His decision has caused a heated public...

Two Chinese nationals show up in the Marshall Islands to implement a grandiose plan: A special economic zone on an atoll of the poor Pacific island nation. But soon the dream of the free trade zone turns into a political scandal – in its course the two almost succeed in overthrowing the elected president. Now they are on trial, but the question remains: Who are Cary Yan and Gina Zhou? Business people? Fraudsters who wanted to create a money laundering paradise? Or agents of the Chinese...