#1421 The Rise of China and the Freak Out of the West
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2021
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 6/6/2021
Today we take a look at the tensions building between the US and China with an emphasis on understanding the context in which China has grown from a Cold War afterthought into a force capable of challenging American hegemony.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Graham Allison: Is war between China and the US inevitable - TEDTalks - Air Date 11-20-18
Taking lessons from a historical pattern called "Thucydides's Trap," political scientist Graham Allison shows why a rising China and a dominant United States could be headed towards a violent collision no one wants.
Ch. 2: The world's great powers - Worldly - Air Date 2-18-21
Zack, Jenn, and Alex break down one of the DC foreign policy world’s hottest new catchphrases: “great power competition.” It’s the idea that international politics in the 21st century will be dominated by a struggle for influence between the US & China.
Ch. 3: The Century of Humiliation w/ Carl Zha - The East is a Podcast - Air Date 6-12-20
Carl Zha is the host of the Silk and Steel podcast.
Ch. 4: Why Is China Investing Billions in Africa - NowThis World - Air Date 12-16-18
China has invested billions of dollars into the continent of Africa to build massive infrastructure projects in African countries.
Ch. 5: China's trillion dollar plan to dominate global trade - Vox - Air Date 4-5-18
It's about more than just economics.
Beijing has accused the U.S. of perpetuating a Cold War mentality as President Joe Biden and senior administration officials shore up alliances in the Pacific region to counter China’s growing influence
MEMBERS-ONLY BONUS CLIP(S)
Ch. 7: Industrial Policy: How the Green New Deal's Architects Would Do IP - ChinaTalk - Air Date 5-13-21
Saikat and Zack take us inside the creation of the Green New Deal, lay out how bold leadership can change a nation's economic trajectory, lament Democrats' lukewarm appetite for industrial policy, and offer up their vision for a American developmental
Rodney Jones, a long-time Asia analyst, colleague of Rob Johnson's, and currently Principal of Wigram Capital Advisors in New Zealand, discusses how China and other Pacific Rim countries succeeded in containing the Covid-19 pandemic
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 9: Don't forget all the work that goes into the show - Nick From California
Ch. 10: #1358 and explaining the systems of power - Quai from North Carolina
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 11: Final comments on the Center for Humane Technology as a response to Surveillance Capitalism
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard (https://theobard.bandcamp.com/track/this-fickle-world)
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
SHOW IMAGE:
Description: A Chinese flag waves just above an American flag in front of a background of trees.
Image Credit: "American and Chinese flags" by futureatlas.com | Flickr
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of Left podcast in which we shall take |
| 0:07.3 | a look at the tensions building between the US and China with an emphasis on understanding |
| 0:13.4 | the context in which China has grown from a cold war afterthought into a force capable |
| 0:20.4 | of challenging American hegemony. |
| 0:23.0 | The clips today are from a TED Talk by Graham Allison, Worldly, The East is a podcast, |
| 0:30.1 | now this world, Vox, Democracy Now, China Talk, and Economics and Beyond with Rob Johnson. |
| 0:43.7 | As we saw with this flipping the pyramid of poverty, China has actually soared this |
| 0:49.4 | meteoric former Czech president, Vox, Haval, I think, put it best. |
| 0:53.3 | He said, all this has happened so fast we haven't yet had time to be astonished. |
| 0:59.0 | To remind myself how astonished I should be, I occasionally look out the window in my |
| 1:04.6 | office in Cambridge at this bridge which goes across the Charles River between the Kennedy |
| 1:10.6 | School and Harvard Business School. |
| 1:13.3 | In 2012, state of Massachusetts said they were going to renovate this bridge and we'll |
| 1:17.3 | take two years. |
| 1:19.5 | In 2014, they said it wasn't finished. |
| 1:22.7 | In 2015, they said it would take one more year. |
| 1:25.5 | In 2015, they said it's not finished, we're not going to tell you when it's going to |
| 1:28.7 | be finished. |
| 1:29.7 | Finally, last year, it was finished three times over budget. |
| 1:33.6 | Now, compare this to a similar bridge that I drove across last month in Beijing. |
| 1:39.6 | It's called the Sanyon Bridge. |
| 1:42.6 | In 2015, the Chinese decided they wanted to renovate that bridge. |
... |
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