Asia Matters Podcast

In July the Chinese Communist Party turns 100. From humble beginnings in a small building in Shanghai's French Concession, the party would go on to seize power, retaining it into the present day, and fundamentally alter the course of China's history.
A century ago, the CCP's founders would probably not have been able to imagine the influence they would wield and the modern country their party would forge, even if they might have hoped for it. China in 1921 was fracturing, impoverished, and often found itself at the mercy of the era's great powers.
But today's China is a global economic behemoth; and its international political influence is inexorably on the rise too, seen in its growing power in multilateral institutions like the UN. Many would argue that it's seen by the world's leading superpower, the United States, as its main rival.
But is China what we might call a great power? And crucially - whilst we certainly know a lot about what everyone else thinks about this - how does China perceive itself?
To answer these very big questions, we've assembled some of the biggest brains in the field.
The incomparable Rana Mitter, Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford, is our guest host for this episode. He's joined by Professor Shaun Breslin of the University of Warwick and Suyan Pan, Associate Professor at the Education University of Hong Kong.
As ever - you can find out more on our website, www.asiamatterspod.com

At the end of June, the Philippines will formally inaugurate a new leadership – but it will feature two very familiar names.
There will be a second ‘President Ferdinand Marcos’; and another Duterte – Sara, daughter of the current president – will become vice-president.
The new President Marcos, generally known as Bongbong, is the son of the man who led the Philippines from the time he was elected in 1965 until he was deposed by a ‘people power’ revolution in 1986. During the two decades in between, Marcos Senior amassed billions of dollars in private wealth, oversaw the killing and disappearance of thousands of political opponents, imposed martial law and created a debt-fuelled economic boom which ended in a major recession.

Sara Duterte is the daughter of a man who has polarised the Philippines during the past six years, the current president, Rodrigo Duterte. His signature policy was a ‘war on drugs’ which has caused the deaths of somewhere between six and thirty thousand people.
Despite these chequered family backgrounds both Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte were elected with huge majorities in the elections on May 9th.

Now the dust has settled, we’re going to find out how they did it and what it means for the country.
Our first guest is Ronald Holmes, president of Pulse Asia, one of the Philippines' leading public opinion research companies. He's also Professor of Politics at De La Salle University in Manila.
Joining him is Maria Ela Atienza, Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of the Philippines.
Our guest host for this episode is Bill Hayton, Associate Fellow with the Asia-Pacific Programme at the London-based think-tank, Chatham House.
As ever, you can find out more about the episodes on our website.

In any list of influential tech powers in the world, South Korea would undoubtedly be near the top.
In this episode we delve into how the country achieved this status, transforming the nature of its economy and producing global industry leaders like Samsung and LG Electronics.
But we'll also look to the future, and at how South Korea is working with the international community to build up the world's tech infrastructure. How is Seoul cooperating with other regions and countries when it comes to issues such as regulating the internet? How are issues of data collection and privacy being received in Korean society?
Like most globally connected powers, South Korea is also highly attuned to the risk of cyber attacks - particularly given its volatile neighbour North Korea.
We are delighted to have Dr Michael Reiterer, former EU ambassador to Korea, and now the distinguished professor for international security and diplomacy at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy in Brussels, on the show. He has specialized in the EU’s relations with Korea and Japan during his career, particularly in the security realm.
Also joining us is Dr Robyn Klingler-Vidra, a reader in International Political Economy at King’s College, London, whose research has focused on how east and southeast nations have developed their tech sectors.
For this episode, we are once again partnering with the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at the Brussels School of Governance.

China’s economy is facing its biggest challenges for years as growth slows and debt piled up. How worried should we be?
This week Andrew is joined by Stephen Roach, former Chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs; and Dinny McMahon, author of the book ‘China’s Great Wall of Debt’, which chronicles the country’s growing debt problem.

A note to listeners - this episode was recorded before the true scale of the coronavirus outbreak was revealed.
As ever, get in touch if you have any comments at [email protected]. You can also follow us on Twitter: @AsiaMattersPod

The eyes of the world are on China as Beijing hosts the Winter Olympics.

A successful Games will be used by leader Xi Jinping to bolster his image and status at home and abroad; a status that was given a significant boost in November, when a major meeting of the Communist Party effectively enshrined his position in the party’s historical pantheon, alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.

But while the opening ceremonies and stage-managed meetings played out without a hitch, there are still major tests for the Chinese leadership. This is especially true on the economic front, as growth slows, and concerns about a crisis in the property market persist. In this episode we look at the state of play in Chinese politics and economics with two well-placed observers.

Dr Ling Li teaches Chinese politics and law at the University of Vienna, where she was also a visiting professor. She has written extensively on topics related to corruption and anti-corruption in China.

And Dr Isabella Weber is an Assistant Professor of Economics and the Research Leader for China of the Asian Political Economy Program at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her recent book, ‘How China Escaped Shock Therapy: The Market Reform Debate’ provides a detailed history and analysis of the debates around economic reform in 1908s China.

As ever, you can find more information on our website