Sharp China: All Eyes on Iran; Two Sessions Questions; Alibaba, DeepSeek and Distillation; Another UK Spying Scandal

This episode of Sharp China is outside the paywall. Show Notes: On today’s show Andrew and Bill begin with the war in Iran and its implications for the PRC. Topics include: Upsides and downsides for China, why US strategy was likely related to Iran and not the PRC, questions about the Strait of Hormuz, the Iran partnership and PRC global leadership, implications for Taiwan, why a Beijing visit from Donald Trump remains likely, and yet another US war in the Middle East… From there: What to watch for at the Two Sessions this week, an exodus at Alibaba, waiting for a new DeepSeek model, and distillation alarm at American AI labs. At the end: Another spy scandal engulfs Labour in the UK, and fun facts about Spider-Man: No Way Home and its failure to clear $2 billion worldwide.You can listen to the podcast in the app:Or click here for instructions to add the podcast to your preferred player. To subscribe to Sinocism, click here.To subscribe to Stratechery, click here.And if you enjoy this podcast please share it far and wide:Related Readings:Reactions to the US-Israel attack on Iran; Prepping for the Two Sessions; Science and technology insurance -- SinocismReactions to Iran war; US-China; Two Sessions; DeepSeek and Qwen -- Sinocism China Calls on All Sides to Protect Ships Transiting Hormuz -- BloombergWhat’s behind China’s careful response to its ally Iran after US-Israel strikes? -- SCMPTaiwan Arms Sale Approved by Congress Is Delayed as Trump Plans Visit to Beijing -- NYTInside the plan to kill Ali Khamenei -- FTWhat to Watch at China’s Two Sessions in 2026 -- Center for China AnalysisAlibaba AI Whiz Who Warned of US-China Tech Gap Steps Down -- BloombergDeepSeek to release long-awaited AI model in new challenge to US rivals -- FTDetecting and preventing distillation attacks -- AnthropicExclusive: China’s DeepSeek trained AI model on Nvidia’s best chip despite US ban, official saysHusband of Labour MP among three arrested on suspicion of spying for China -- The GuardianTo add the Sharp China feed to your preferred podcast player:Click on the “listen on” button and you will see a dropdown with several options. Make sure you are logged into your account when you do it so you get the correct private RSS feed for subscribers. If you have not logged in for a while you can enter your email and then we will send you a login link.The “email link” in the pulldown shown above will send you an email that also makes it easy to set it up in your preferred podcast app on your phone.If you use the Substack app it has a built- in podcast player.Thanks for listening. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sinocism.com/subscribe