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ChinaTalk

ChinaTalk

By: Jordan Schneider
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Conversations exploring China, technology, and US-China relations. Guests include a wide range of analysts, policymakers, and academics. Hosted by Jordan Schneider. Check out the newsletter on Substack at https://www.chinatalk.media/Jordan Schneider Political Science Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Unitree and the Humanoid Robot Revolution

    Unitree and the Humanoid Robot Revolution
    Jul 3 2026
    Robots are here, and they’re going to change the world, with Unitree currently in pole position. Joining me to discuss are Niko Ciminelli, longtime SemiAnalysis advisor, robot kid and VC along with Reyk Knuhtsen, robotics lead at SemiAnalysis. Lily Ottinger cohosts. Our conversation covers: Why robots are the real general-purpose technology because, for the first time in history, we can decouple capital from human labor. How everyone keeps underestimating Unitree: the DJI and BYD playbooks, the danger of dismissing “robot dogs,” and why iteration speed matters more than dancing demos. China’s edge: vertical integration, actuator manufacturing, and supply chains that make Chinese humanoids much cheaper than American ones. Why you can’t AI your way out of a hardware problem or from a supply chain that makes your robot far more expensive to build. What America should do next: allied supply chains, special economic zones, and industrial policy. suno song: https://suno.com/s/EBSxwT7ltOerJJGD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    52 mins
  • Taiwan's War on Renewables [Fully Produced Radio Show!]

    Taiwan's War on Renewables [Fully Produced Radio Show!]
    Jun 30 2026
    Welcome to another installment of the ChinaTalk radio show! Today, we’re diving into Taiwan’s war on green energy. Shenanigans abound in this episode, including: The lights-out scenario — Taiwan only holds 11 days of LNG reserves, and 97% of the island's energy is imported, but the ruling party phased out nuclear and botched the renewable rollout anyway. The offshore wind graveyard — how made-in-Taiwan components drove developers to abandon the world's best offshore wind sites, The Taipower unbundling reversal — and the Kafkaesque system that keeps electricity prices dirt cheap despite the Iran war. “Green energy cockroaches” — why corruption is Taiwan's dirtiest secret, and how the Taiwanese public came to associate renewables with scandal, The nuclear U-turn — How President Lai Ching-te walked back forty years of "Non-Nuclear Homeland" orthodoxy to restart Taiwan’s nuclear reactors. A transcript of this show with embedded source links is available on the ChinaTalk substack. This episode was produced by Lily Ottinger and Aqib Zakaria. Special thanks to "Jason Feng," Angelica Oung, Ricky Huang, Tsaiying Lu (DSET), and Yu-Hsuan Yeh (formerly of CSIS and DSET) for their time and expertise. Everyone's views are their own and don't represent any organization. If you want to learn more, check out Angelica's ongoing work on her two Substacks, Taipology and Elemental Energy. You can also check out Ricky's two podcasts, where he hosts cross-partisan debates about energy policy and more. "Jason's" voice was anonymized with ElevenLabs' text-to-speech tools. Finally, we know Angelica is a controversial figure, but we decided to interview her because, on energy policy specifically, her views are shared by a not-insubstantial portion of the Taiwanese public. [See: this poll which reported that 59% of the Taiwanese public didn't feel confident that Lai’s administration could protect Taiwan from power outages, and this poll from June 2025 that shows a near-even split in public opinion for and against the non-nuclear homeland policy.] Outro song lyrics: 「燈火 Taiwan」 (Lights of Taiwan) [Verse 1] The AC stopped humming on August day eight Aunties in the market, no fan on their face Eleven days of gas, forty-two of coal Then the island goes dark, and the story gets old O-lóng-mn̂g, o-lóng-mn̂g (黑黑暗暗, pitch black) We knew this would come, but we looked away [Pre-Chorus] Forty years they said hūi-hi̍k (非核, non-nuclear) Forty years of dreaming we could wish it all away But the strait is a wind tunnel, and the sun still shines While we burned the future for cheaper times [Chorus] Góa ê kò͘-hiong, lí kám ū thêng-thāu? (我的故鄉, 你敢有聽著? — My homeland, can you hear?) The Franken-reactor sleeps beneath the hill Crystal Yang drank the water, but the people got ill Góa ê kò͘-hiong, lí ài kiàⁿ-khí-lâi (我的故鄉, 你愛起來 — My homeland, you must rise) Not nuclear OR green — we need both to survive [Verse 2] Round 3.1, Round 3.2, localization chains RWE went home, EnBW felt the pain Yunlin's turbines turning, three times the cost While the lūi-chhù (綠能蟑螂, green cockroaches) ate what we lost Behind the meter, batteries wait Zero price auction — we sealed our own fate [Pre-Chorus] Taipower's black box, CPI's lie TSMC pays more so the auntie don't cry But the data centers can't grow, AI waits at the door While we argue if nuclear is sin or chó͘ (善或惡, good or evil) [Chorus] Góa ê kò͘-hiong, lí kám ū thêng-thāu? The Franken-reactor sleeps beneath the hill Crystal Yang drank the water, but the people got ill Góa ê kò͘-hiong, lí ài kiàⁿ-khí-lâi Not nuclear OR green — we need both to survive [Bridge] (Spoken, over soft piano) March 22nd, 2026 Lai Ching-te said the words nobody wanted to hear Kò͘-hiong needs power Not slogans, not pride, not forty years of fear [Final Chorus] Góa ê kò͘-hiong, lí kám ū thêng-thāu? The blockade is coming, the Hormuz is closed Spot market gas at 140% — who knows? Góa ê kò͘-hiong, lí ài kiàⁿ-khí-lâi Distributed and hardened, let the sun and wind rise With nuclear beside them — open both your eyes [Outro] O-lóng-mn̂g, mài koh o-lóng-mn̂g (黑黑暗暗, 莫閣黑黑暗暗 — Darkness, don't be dark again) Kiàⁿ-khí-lâi, Tâi-oân (起來, 台灣 — Rise up, Taiwan) Kiàⁿ-khí-lâi... ChinaTalk is an audience-supported publication. If you'd like to help us produce more content like this, please consider a paid subscription on Substack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 15 mins
  • WarTalk: Jack Murphy of Team House on Donahue + SOF

    WarTalk: Jack Murphy of Team House on Donahue + SOF
    Jun 26 2026
    Jack Murphy — former special forces and Ranger Regiment, co-founder of The Team House, and author of the new novel The Most Dangerous Man — joins WarTalk to talk about the strangest corners of special operations history and what the war on terror generation does next. Jordan is joined by hosts Tony Stark, Justin, and Bryan Clark. We discuss… Why the military selects its generals like a company that promotes its best plant manager to CFO — and why the people you'd actually want as leaders are quietly opting out The Green Light teams: the suicidal one-way logic of hand-delivered nuclear demolition, from the Fulda Gap to mountain passes in Iran The difference between a Ranger tab and the Ranger Regiment — and why "is he a real Ranger" is a perennial fight every time a candidate runs for Congress Battlefield medicine as live experimentation — walking blood banks, French plasma you had to sign a waiver for, and why a stateside paramedic needs a doctor's permission to do what a SOF medic does on instinct The tech-CEO-as-villain premise behind The Most Dangerous Man, Nick Land's archaeofuturism, and the disturbing real Sarajevo "safari" case winding through the Italian courts The SOF celebrity-industrial complex — Lone Survivor, Joe Rogan, Tim Kennedy, January 6th, and the cultural fallout of two failed wars we haven't begun to reckon with suno song: https://suno.com/s/Nw18Ns8p0CK9Blrd Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 10 mins
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