China In Context

SOAS China Institute
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China In Context is a fortnightly podcast by the SOAS China Institute (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) which offers expert analysis on the politics, economy, society, culture and history of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It features interviews with leading academics, researchers, journalists and other China-specialists from around the world.

  1. Oct 21

    Chinese EVs: Highly charged — and ready to overtake?

    Chinese electric vehicle brands may not yet be on everybody's roads, but they're certainly on the minds of policy makers around the world. With Donald Trump musing recently on whether to allow Chinese cars to be manufactured in the US, leading American auto industry figures have pushed back, arguing that the subsidies China has given its EV and battery firms over the past two decades amount to unfair competition. The head of Volkswagen, meanwhile, has warned that French and German carmakers must work together to combat the challenge from China, whose passenger vehicle exports are expected to hit 11-12 million this year, compared to just five million three years ago. And the EU, which has followed the US in imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese EVs, recently also persuaded Beijing to limit its exports of hybrid cars to the bloc to just 350,000 per year — compared to this year’s predicted exports of 800,000 such vehicles. But the challenge is far from over: with sales in China slowing, the country’s biggest manufacturers, including BYD — now the world’s biggest EV maker — Chery and Geely, which already dominate their domestic market, are seeking to avoid tariffs and add market share by manufacturing in factories in Europe, Latin America and other regions. So how should the world respond to the rise of the cheap, hi-tech Chinese EV — and is its dominance inevitable?  Bill Russo, a former senior executive in China for Chrysler who now heads the Shanghai-based advisory firm Automobility, and is also chairman of the automotive committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, shares his views. For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    Chinese EVs: Highly charged — and ready to overtake?

  2. Oct 7

    China’s Global Strategy — Winning over the Global South, Targeting Taiwan

    September's summit meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping may not have achieved too many concrete outcomes, but to some observers, it highlighted China’s rising international status. Beijing's ambitions on the international stage have been highlighted in recent years by its launch of a series of Global Initiatives, on Governance, Security, Development and Civilisation, which emphasise its own values, and have fuelled fears among some in the west that China seeks to replace the US as the world’s dominant power. So what is China seeking to achieve internationally? That’s the topic of a new book, China’s Global Strategy Under Xi Jinping, co-authored by Professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute and a specialist on President Xi's ideology, and Olivia Cheung. It focuses on China's attempts to win over countries of the Global South, increase its influence in multilateral bodies like the UN, and ultimately to take control of Taiwan as part of Xi Jinping's stated aim of achieving what he calls 'The China Dream of National Rejuvenation' by 2050. Steve Tsang joins us to discuss China’s global aims and strategies. Photo credit: Ricardo Stuckert/PR / CC BY-SA 4.0 For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    China’s Global Strategy — Winning over the Global South, Targeting Taiwan

  3. Sep 22

    Mr Xi goes to Washington — Stability amid tension?

    Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington this month comes amidst continuing tensions over Beijing’s strategic ambitions, US arms sales to Taiwan, and restrictions on US chip exports to China. Congress has just passed a bill pledging sanctions against countries which, like China, import Russian oil, while Donald Trump’s recent Greenland deal seems targeted at both Beijing and Moscow. So what are the chances of the two countries extending the truce on trade tariffs they reached last year — to say nothing of reaching a consensus on AI governance, or even building the ‘constructive relationship of strategic stability’ that they agreed to create during Mr Trump’s visit to Beijing in May? Professor Rana Mitter, historian of modern China and ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School, shares his views on the state of the relationship between the two nations. Photo credit: Daniel Torok / White House For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    Mr Xi goes to Washington — Stability amid tension?

  4. Jul 15

    Europe’s New ‘China Shock’ — Trade tensions, job losses, crisis talks

    Despite decades of rapid Chinese growth, it’s over the past year that European politicians have begun to talk of facing what’s been dubbed the ‘China Shock 2.0’ — as surging Chinese exports and the impact of higher technology Chinese growth increasingly affect the heartlands of European industry — particularly German car and machinery manufacturing. Germany’s industrial output has fallen around 10% since 2022, and the country is estimated to be shedding some 10,000 industrial jobs every month; Volkswagen has just outlined up to 100,000 possible job cuts. Much of the blame has been placed on Chinese overcapacity, and what Europe sees as unfair subsidies and an overvalued Chinese yuan. And amid fears that job losses could further boost the rise of the far right in European politics, there have been calls for new import restrictions and higher tariffs on Chinese imports to Europe. The European Union and China have just begun three months of trade talks in an attempt to find a solution — but will Europe dare to take tough action in the face of China’s stranglehold on sectors like rare earths and legacy chips — and is China prepared to compromise? Joerg Wuttke of the consultancy DGA Albright Stonebridge Group, for many years president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, and former Vice President for China at the German chemicals giant BASF, discusses the roots of the crisis and the chances of finding a solution. Image © European Union, 2025 / CC BY 4.0 For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    Europe’s New ‘China Shock’ — Trade tensions, job losses, crisis talks

  5. Jul 2

    Family and Relationship Trends in China — Across generations, across the urban-rural divide

    There’s been much talk recently about China’s demographic challenges: a fast-ageing population, a fall in the number of marriages, and record low birth rates - despite the relaxation of the One Child Policy ten years ago - as well as a rise in divorce rates over the past two decades. So what is going on in Chinese families and relationships? One person who studies this in great depth is Liu Jieyu, professor of sociology and China Studies at SOAS, and co-editor of the journal the China Quarterly, whose new book, Embedded Generations — Family Life and Social Change in Contemporary China, features interviews with more than 200 people from three generations — from those born in the 1930s and 40s to those born in the 1990s and beyond. Based on her fieldwork in villages in three provinces, and three cities from northern to southern China, it focuses on her interviewees’ experiences of childhood, relationships, sex and marriage, grandparenting and ageing. And it challenges traditional sociological attitudes to the impact of modernization and individualisation on Chinese society, highlighting some unexpected continuities and reinventions of tradition. Professor Liu joins us to discuss her findings. Image © PRPicturesProduction / Adobe Stock For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    Family and Relationship Trends in China — Across generations, across the urban-rural divide

  6. Jun 17

    World Cup Dreams and Own Goals — Football in China

    Despite the extra places on offer at this year’s expanded FIFA World Cup Finals, the Chinese men’s soccer team once again failed to qualify, continuing a series of disappointments dating back to 2002, when China made its only appearance at the tournament after extra slots were freed up by the host nations, Japan and South Korea, qualifying automatically. Over the past two decades vast sums have been poured into the Chinese Super League, which for a while attracted many foreign stars and managers. And President Xi Jinping has spoken of his dream that the country would host and one day win the World Cup. Yet despite his launch of a major football reform plan in 2015, Chinese soccer is again in disarray — two leading clubs have gone bankrupt, while nine of the country’s top teams were recently docked points, in a corruption scandal that led to the jailing of senior football association officials, club administrators, and even the former national team boss Li Tie. And Chinese state TV only reached a deal to show this year’s World Cup just a month before the competition began. So are China’s traditionally passionate football fans falling out of love with the game? Rowan Simons, author of the book Bamboo Goalposts, and chairman and founder of Club Football Beijing, which trains young players and runs a youth league in the Chinese capital, joins us to discuss the state of Chinese soccer, and whether the country’s World Cup dream might ever become a reality. Image © safat / Adobe Stock For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    World Cup Dreams and Own Goals — Football in China

  7. May 21

    Did China trump Trump? — After the Beijing summit

    Donald Trump's visit to Beijing, the first by a US president in nine years, not only included plenty of pageantry, but produced some apparently substantive agreements. Aside from China resuming purchases of Boeing planes, beef and soybeans from the US, the two countries agreed to set up boards of trade and investment, and pledged to establish a 'constructive relationship of strategic stability'. And Xi Jinping will visit the US in September. But will this really ease recent trade and political tensions? Melinda Liu, veteran Beijing bureau chief of Newsweek magazine, and Professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute and co-author of 'The Political Thought of Xi Jinping', discuss who got the most out of a summit described by President Trump as 'very successful' and by President Xi as ‘historic’. Photo credit: Daniel Torok / White House For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    Did China trump Trump? — After the Beijing summit

  8. May 6

    China's Middle East Balancing Act — Peace plans, pragmatism and economic prospects

    The war in the Middle East has affected China in many ways: as well as targeting Iran, a country with which Beijing has a comprehensive strategic partnership, it has disrupted exports, rattled consumer confidence, and forced the Chinese government to step in to protect consumers from the worst of rising petrol prices. Yet some believe Beijing may benefit from the damage to US global credibility, and China has sought to highlight its role as a responsible diplomatic player, proposing a joint peace plan with Pakistan, and holding talks with Gulf leaders and Iranian officials.  And China may also benefit from fresh opportunities, as Gulf countries, with which it has fast growing economic ties,  seek to build new port and railway infrastructure to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Yet Beijing’s veto of a Bahraini resolution, opposed by Iran, to guarantee safety of navigation in the Strait at the UN in April was a reminder of the fine line it has to tread in maintaining relations with both the Gulf states and Iran, 90 percent of whose oil sales go to China. Jonathan Fulton, professor of international relations at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, editor of the China MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Newsletter, and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, joins us to assess how recent events in the region will affect China in the longer term. Image © Ruma / Adobe Stock For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: steve.tsang@soas.ac.uk ________________________________________ 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 BlogSCI on XSCI on LinkedInSCI on FacebookSCI on Instagram________________________________________ Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0

    China's Middle East Balancing Act — Peace plans, pragmatism and economic prospects
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About

China In Context is a fortnightly podcast by the SOAS China Institute (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) which offers expert analysis on the politics, economy, society, culture and history of China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. It features interviews with leading academics, researchers, journalists and other China-specialists from around the world.

Information

  • Creator
    SOAS China Institute
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    214
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 SOAS China Institute
  • Show Website
    China In Context

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