Sharp China: TikTok and Musk and Xiaohongshu; Xi’s Speech To Top Leaders; New PLA Capabilities for Taiwan; Proposed AI Controls and Continued Hacking Concerns

This episode of Sharp China is free for everyone.Show Notes:On today’s show Bill and Andrew begin with multiple reports that Chinese officials have considered working with Elon Musk to find a resolution for TikTok in the U.S., while TikTok‘s users have flocked to Xiaohongshu and inspired a few more questions for the future. Then: Parsing Xi Jinping’s speech in the first 2025 issue of Qiushi, why both the substance of his message and his audience heighten concerns, and reactions to a new fleet of barges in Guangzhou that could factor into the PRC’s plans for Taiwan. At the end: U.S.-China updates, including a final rule from the U.S. on connected vehicles, proposed rules on AI chips, more alarms being sounded on PRC hacking, looming tech bro fissures, and the emissary from the PRC who may attend next week’s presidential inauguration.Subscribe to Sinocism here.Subscribe to Stratechery here.You can listen to the podcasts in the Substack app:Or click here for instructions to add the podcast to your preferred player.Related Readings:RMB signaling; Trade surplus; New US AI export rules; TikTok to become XTok? -- SinocismXi chats with European Council President Antonio Costa; US rule on connected vehicles; RMB talk; Supply chain binding; TikTok -- SinocismChina Weighs Sale of TikTok US to Musk as a Possible Option -- BloombergChina discussing using Elon Musk as broker in TikTok deal -- FTChina Officials Discuss Option of TikTok Sale to Elon Musk -- WSJUS netizens calling themselves ‘TikTok refugees’ migrate to Chinese social media app ahead of US Supreme Court ruling -- Global TimesTikTok crisis builds unlikely ‘cyberspace bridge’ between US and China -- SemaforXi in Qiushi - Comprehensively Advancing the Building of a Strong Country and the Great Cause of National Rejuvenation Through Chinese Modernization -- SinocismChina’s Trade Surplus Reaches a Record of Nearly $1 Trillion -- NYTChina Suddenly Building Fleet Of Special Barges Suitable For Taiwan Landings -- Naval NewsPost by John Culver -- John Culver on XCommerce Finalizes Rule to Secure Connected Vehicle Supply Chains from Foreign Adversary Threats -- BISU.S. Targets China With New AI Curbs, Overriding Nvidia’s Objections -- WSJFormer FBI Director Chris Way on 60 Minutes -- Face the Nation on XHow Chinese Hackers Graduated From Clumsy Corporate Thieves to Military Weapons -- WSJJan. 6, 2025: Giant Pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao Play In The Snow -- YouTubeTo 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