Rana Mitter is a history professor at Oxford University and the author of China’s Good War: How World War II is shaping a new nationalism.
49 min listen
Just before Christmas, it was reported that the billionaire Jack Ma had moved to Tokyo after getting into trouble with the Chinese authorities. If he’s still living there, he’d be one of several well known Chinese who seems to have made Japan their home after run ins with Beijing. In so doing, they’re following in
20 min listen
This week: Svitlana Morenets explains why Ukraine won’t accept compromise in any form (00:56), Rana Mitter details Japan’s plans for an anti-China coalition (05:43), and Mia Levitin reads her review of Muppets in Moscow by Natasha Lance Rogoff (13:17). Produced and presented by Oscar Edmondson.
36 min listen
In this week’s episode: Is China heading for a demographic disaster? Rana Mitter and Cindy Yu discuss China’s declining birth rate and what this could do to the economy. (0.52) Also this week: What would foreign policy look like under a Liz Truss government? The Spectator’s deputy political editor, Katy Balls is joined by Rishi
35 min listen
China is often accused of breaking international rules and norms. Just last week at Mansion House, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: ‘Countries must play by the rules. And that includes China’. So what are its transgressions, and what are its goals for the international system? My guests and I try to answer this question in
59 min listen
All political parties have weaknesses for jargon and buzzwords, and the Chinese Communist Party more than most. It’s why Party documents – whether they be speeches, Resolutions or reports – can be hard going. Sentences like the following (from the Resolution adopted at the Sixth Plenum) abound: All Party members should uphold historical materialism and
41 min listen
Cross-strait relations between China and Taiwan seem to be hotting up, with headlines frequently touting the possibility of a military takeover by Beijing. But why does China care so much about this set of islands that is around a seventh of the size of the UK? Cindy Yu speaks to historian Rana Mitter and analyst
29 min listen
When thinking about Chinese student protests, you’ll inevitably think about Hong Kong or Tiananmen. But there’s one that kicked it all off in modern Chinese history, and its reverberations are still felt throughout the century, not least because of its role in the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. It’s the May Fourth Movement of
32 min listen
China has come out on top from this pandemic year – what does this mean for the world? (00:50) Was Test and Trace doomed from the start? (12:35) And what’s with all these Covid excuses? (22:35) With historian Rana Mitter; security expert Nigel Inkster; analyst Richard Dobbs; virologist Elisabetta Groppelli; editor of the Oldie Harry
41 min listen
As Sinn Fein enters coalition talks with Fianna Fail, economist Fredrik Erixon writes that the encroachment of fringe parties on the mainstream is a part of a wider European trend. What’s more, he argues that the only the mainstream parties that adapt can survive. On the podcast, Fraser Nelson bats for Fredrik’s thesis, and debates
