This week on Sinica, I chat with David Zweig, a veteran China scholar who is Professor Emeritus from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. We discuss Davis’d latest book, The War for Chinese Talent in America, which looks at Chinese efforts to harness the intellectual firepower of Chinese scientists and engineers who studied abroad, especially in the United States, and bring them — or at least their knowledge —back to China. David’s book takes a balanced look at both the very real problems generated by Chinese policies as well as the overreaction by the U.S. Department of Justice in the form of the infamous China Initiative.

3:40 – Why got David interested on this particular topic

7:07 – The diaspora option

12:09 – The Thousand Talents Program/Plan

18:28 – How the talent programs operate

23:48 – Motivations for Chinese to participate in the talent programs, how geopolitics now impacts these decisions, and what the effect of the China Initiative has been on collaboration

36:29 – The China Initiative’s climate of fear and the concern for racial profiling

49:40 – The extent of the validity of U.S. security concerns

57:24 – David’s suggestions for balancing national security interests and open scientific exchange

Paying It Forward: Dan Lynch and his book, China’s Futures: PRC Elites Debate Economics, Politics, and Foreign Policy

Recommendations:

David: It’s a Wonderful World — The Louis Armstrong Musical in New York

Kaiser: The Invention of Yesterday: A 50,000-Year History of Human Culture, Conflict, and Connection by Tamim Ansary, especially the audiobook read by the author

Link: rthk.hk/radio/radio3/
BackChat:
4 June 2021
Hugh Chiverton and Danny Gittings

June 4th under NSL

Link: rthk.hk/radio/radio3/
BackChat:
12 January 2021
Hugh Chiverton and Ada Wong

Legal year 2021/ US and Taiwan relations

Link: rthk.hk/radio/radio3/
BackChat:
4 December 2020
Hugh Chiverton and Danny Gittings

Sino-Australia relations / Chinese spacecraft landing on the moon

Link: rthk.hk/radio/radio3/
BackChat: 1 June 2020
Hugh Chiverton and Mike Rowse

National Security Law: David Zweig, Elsie Leung
David Zweig outlines how Hong Kong has become a battleground between the US and China

 

On Monday’s Backchat latest developments in the controversy over the National Security Law for Hong Kong.
8:30am-9:00am David Zweig, Director, Transnational China Consulting Limited
9:00am-9:30am Elsie Leung, Deupty Director of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee and former Justice Secretary

Link: rthk.hk/radio/radio3/
BackChat: 28 April 2020
Hugh Chiverton and Ada Wong

America, China and Sino-US relations under Covid19

Link: Podcast on NCUSCR.org
27 January 2020

Link: rthk.hk/radio/radio3/
BackChat: 21 October 2019
Hugh Chiverton and Mike Rowse

Backchat- Latest on the protests and HK Human Rights and Democracy Acts

Link: rthk.hk/radio/radio3/
BackChat: 24 June 2019
Hugh Chiverton and Mike Rowse

On Monday’s Backchat,, we’re talking about the latest developments in the extradition bill controversy.

An uneasy sort of calm broken out this weekend, with Carrie Lam silent and invisible, but senior officials promising the administration will learn from its mistakes, and urging people to look and move forward together.

In fact the DAB is suggesting that the Government to completely withdraw the extradition bill, although the FTU disagrees. There are also growing calls for an inquiry into police action, and then there’s the question of how police should respond to the unprecedented 15 hour siege of their headquarters on Friday.

As another working week starts, where do we stand? Will nothing much happen until the G20, and perhaps July 1st? Are calls to retract the bill meaningless, as Legislator Tam Yiu-chung says, or meaningful? Will there be any resignations or reshuffles? Do you accept the apologies and trust that something will change?

We’ll be joined as usual by a panel of guests.

– Alan Lung, Governor, Path of Democracy
– David Zweig, Chair Professor, Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
– Thomas Cheung, NPC Delegate; and Advisor, Committee for Youth, Business and Professionals Alliance for Hong Kong
– Bonnie Leung, Vice Convenor, Civil Human Rights Front
– Gordon Mathews, Professor of Anthropology, Chinese University of Hong Kong