Drum Tower

As China ramps up military drills around Taiwan and American support for the island appears to be wavering, Taiwan’s opposition leader is arguing for closer ties with the mainland. Cheng Li-wun sits down with Drum Tower to explain why. Hosts: Jeremy Page, The Economist’s China chief correspondent and Sarah Wu, our China correspondent.Guest: Cheng Li-wun, chair of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan's largest opposition party.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Go, one of the world’s oldest board games, is played across China, Japan, and Korea. But a dramatic row over the rules is inflaming age-old tensions between the three countries.Hosts: Jiehao Chen, our China researcher and Jeremy Page, The Economist’s chief China correspondentTranscripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

AI is changing how we work. It's turning us all into managers. Be a good one.The Economist’s management columnist, Andrew Palmer, takes on the bots in the third season of Boss Class. From cloning to coding, agents to entry-level jobs, he tackles the threat head on and figures out how to turn anxiety into opportunity. Along the way he meets bulls and bears and the people who can help you to master management in the age of AI.Full Season 3 out 29th January 2026.To listen, subscribe to Economist Podcasts+.If you’re already a subscriber to The Economist, you have full access to all our shows as part of your subscription. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Since his arrest on charges of financial crime in 2019, one of Hebei’s richest businessmen has been held without trial. Now, he’s penning scalding criticism of local officials, and appealing to Xi Jinping from behind bars.Hosts: Sarah Wu, The Economist’s China correspondent and Don Weinland, our China business and finance editor.Guest: James Zimmerman, Beijing-based lawyer and writer.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

China’s leaders were swift to denounce America’s dramatic night-time extraction of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. But the country’s nationalist commentators are asking if the US assault could offer lessons for a future attack on Taiwan.Hosts: Jeremy Page, our chief China correspondent and Sarah Wu, The Economist’s China correspondent Guest: Drew Thompson, former Pentagon official and senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeTranscripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Nushu emerged from the isolated villages of southern China and is the only language created and used exclusively by women. Today it is celebrated across China as a symbol of female empowerment, but the last natural inheritor saw a different meaning. Host: Jiehao Chen, The Economist’s China researcher.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Once a favourite drink of middle-class Brits, Lapsang Souchong is now disappearing from supermarket shelves. We traveled to the remote tea farms of Fujian to find out why. Host: James Miles, The Economist’s China writer-at-large. Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.

Media mogul and vocal pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai has been found guilty of conspiring to commit sedition and foreign collusion in a Hong Kong court. Why did the self-made billionaire give up his comfortable life for one of protest—and what does his conviction mean for Hong Kong? Host: Alice Su, The Economist’s senior international correspondent. Guest: Sebastien Lai, democracy activist and the son of Jimmy Lai.Transcripts of our podcasts are available via economist.com/podcasts.Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—subscribe to Economist Podcasts+. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our FAQs page or watch our video explaining how to link your account.