MERICS China Podcast
The MERICS China Podcast, brought to you by the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a show that analyses current affairs in China and the latest developments in EU-China relations.
Episodes
245 episodes
China's rise to global tech leadership, with James Kynge
In this episode, long-time Financial Times journalist and former MERICS Senior Fellow James Kynge joins Johannes Heller-Joh...
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Episode 243
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19:58
China aims for self-reliance in AI, with Wendy Chang and Antonia Hmaidi
Artificial Intelligence is reshaping the way we live and work, and its potential use in military applications could alter the global balance of power. The Chinese Communist Party is taking note of this development. During a Politburo study sess...
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Episode 242
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30:07
„China in 25“: EU-China Beziehungen + BRICS-Gipfel + KI in China
„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und Claudia Wessling über aktuelle Entwicklungen in China. In dieser Folge geht es um die Beziehungen zwischen China und der EU im L...
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Episode 241
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25:59
The 2025 EU-China summit, with Abigaël Vasselier
The next EU-China Summit will take place in Beijing at the end of this month. In this episode of our podcast, Abigaël Vasselier, Director of Policy and European Affairs and Head of Program for Foreign Relations at MERICS, joins Claudi...
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Episode 240
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24:05
China’s National Security White Paper, with Katja Drinhausen und Helena Legarda
With an uncertain geopolitical environment and ongoing competition with the US and Europe, national security has become even more important than before in China. So much so that a National Security White Paper, the first of its kind, was publis...
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Episode 239
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32:08
China in 25: China und der Nahost-Krieg + Grundlagenforschung + EU-China-Gipfel
„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und Claudia Wessling über aktuelle Entwicklungen in China. In dieser Folge geht es um die Eskalation zwischen dem Iran und Israel un...
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Episode 238
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24:25
The party and the private economy, with Kasper Ingeman Beck and Nis Grünberg
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is widening its influence over private companies. Since Xi Jinping took office as party and state leader, the CCP has increased its control over the private economy by guiding capital, controlling shares and en...
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Episode 237
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33:11
Chinese FDI in Europe rebounds, with Armand Meyer and Andreas Mischer
Chinese outbound foreign direct investment in the EU and UK rose for the first time in 2024 after seven consecutive years of decline. In this episode we look at what has changed, where the money is going, and what is happening in the particular...
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Episode 237
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25:56
What to expect from the UK’s China Audit, with Charles Parton
The Labor government in the UK launched an audit of the country’s relations with China in 2024. The results are set to be released in June. In this episode of the MERICS China Podcast, Charles Parton joins Johannes Heller-John to ...
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31:59
„China in 25“: KI-Chips, nationale Sicherheit und Chinas Investitionen in Europa
„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und
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Episode 235
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23:01
„China in 25“: Einigung im Zollstreit und Xi in Moskau
„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und
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Episode 234
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21:56
US-China policy under Trump 2.0, with Thomas E. Kellogg
After weeks of fierce confrontations, the US and China are making first steps to negotiate in the ongoing tariff row. Ahead of a meeting of representatives of both sides in Geneva, MERICS Director Communications and Publications Claudia Wess...
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Episode 233
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29:59
China’s overcapacities, with Max J. Zenglein and Jacob Gunter
High US tariffs on China have raised concerns in the EU of Chinese goods being rerouted from the US to Europe. This has also rekindled an ongoing discussion about overcapacities in the Chinese industry. Why are they a danger to European industr...
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Episode 232
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23:56
„China in 25": Xis Reisediplomatie, Chinas Wirtschaft im 1. Quartal und deutsche Unternehmen
„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und Claudia Wessling über aktuelle Entwicklungen in China. In dieser Folge geht es um die Reisediplomatie von Partei- und Staatschef Xi Jinping, der si...
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Episode 231
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26:17
The China-US trade war and implications for the EU, with Jacob Gunter
Global tariffs introduced by the US government under the second Trump administration on April 2nd have rocked global markets. While they have been reduced to a blanket rate of 10 percent a week later, they have increased for China to 145 percen...
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Episode 230
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35:40
"China in 25": Einschätzungen zum Handelskrieg und China im Koalitionsvertrag
„China in 25“ – in maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch und
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Episode 229
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23:52
How China sees Europe during Trump 2.0, with Grzegorz Stec
The widening rift between the United States and Europe will have an effect on the EUs relationship with China. How does Beijing see the EU in the first months of the second Trump administration? Is there an appetite for closer engagement? And w...
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Episode 228
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30:51
Die Bundestagswahl von China aus gesehen, mit Kristin Shi-Kupfer
Die Wahlen zum Deutschen Bundestag vom 23. Februar wurden auch in China aufmerksam verfolgt. Kristin...
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Episode 227
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21:58
Kontrollierte Vielfalt – Chinas soziale Medien, mit Kristin Shi-Kupfer und Katja Drinhausen
Einige der weltweit größten und erfolgreichsten Social Media Plattformen sind in China – mehrere davon mit hunderten Millionen Nutzern. Sie sind Ort für soziale Interaktion, Unterhaltung, Nachrichten und Wissensaustausch. Auch politische Themen...
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Episode 226
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29:24
"China in 25": Zölle, USA, China in Wahlprogrammen
„China in 25“ ist ein neues Podcast-Format von MERICS: In maximal 25 Minuten sprechen Mikko Huotari, Bernhard Bartsch<...
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Episode 225
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18:22
DeepSeek and the upcoming AI Action Summit, with Rebecca Arcesati
The Chinese startup DeepSeek has rattled Silicon Valley’s confidence in the United States’ lead in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. DeepSeek’s first free Chatbot App became the most downloaded app on the iOS App Store as well as on the ...
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Episode 224
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36:57
EU-China relations in 2025, with Abigaël Vasselier
Abigaël Vasselier, Director Policy & European Affairs at MERICS, just returned from a trip to Washington DC where she discussed transatlantic China policies with US counterparts. In this conversation with Claudia Wessling, MER...
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Season 1
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Episode 223
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30:17
China’s economy in 2025, with Max Zenglein
China’s economy ended 2024 on a stronger-than-expected note. GDP expanded by 5.4 percent in the fourth quarter, bringing full-year growth to five percent – exactly as forecasted by the Chinese leadership. This momentum gives the leadership a go...
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Episode 222
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14:14
China and the race for quantum leadership, with Antonia Hmaidi and Jeroen Groenewegen-Lau
China is vying for leadership in quantum research and applications. But it is still early days, and front runners and technical approaches have not yet been consolidated. Johannes Heller-John talks to Antonia Hmaidi, Senior Analys...
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Episode 221
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26:47
Beijing's politics of history, with Daniel Leese
Chinese history – while containing a wealth of cultural, scientific and social achievements – has always been deeply political: China’s emperors tasked scholars to rewrite the past and document the present to justify and glorify their rule. In ...
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Episode 220
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26:10