Into Asia

Hosted by writers Chang Che and Ian Buruma, Into Asia explores how China, Japan, and Korea are reshaping the world. From memory politics to AI and demographic decline, they connect history and current affairs to reveal the new role Asia will play in the twenty-first century. Editing by Sydney Watson

Into Asia is a news podcast hosted by Chang Che, with 20 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Chang Che hosts Into Asia, a news show with 20 episodes published.

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  Into Asia

  China's Grand Bazaar of Artificial Intelligence

  Aug 2, 202639 min

  Chang just returned from a extended trip to China and shares some of his reflections. He visited frontier AI labs and stopped by the World AI Conference in Shanghai, where Xi Jinping spoke and announced a new AI governance body with 29 member countries. Chang and Ian discuss what the AI talks between the US and China might produce, what the Chinese worry about as they develop stronger and stronger models, and why Chinese generally feel much more optimistic about AI than Americans.

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  Into Asia

  How Christianity Shaped North Korea’s Personality Cult

  Jul 13, 202652 min

  Before Pyongyang became the capital of the Kim dynasty, it was known as the "Jerusalem of the East," a city so devoutly Christian that one American missionary in 1925 declared it "the most Protestant city" they had ever seen. Its most consequential resident was a Sunday school teacher named Kim Il Sung. Ian and Chang are joined by Jonathan Cheng, the Wall Street Journal's China bureau chief, to break down how a child of the church turned a nation into a nuclear-armed religious society. He is the author of Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult (Knopf, April 2026)

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  Into Asia

  The Velvet Prison: Self-Censorship from Berlin to Beijing to New York

  Jun 10, 202642 min

  How should decent people live in indecent societies? Chang and Ian look at historical cases from Nazi Germany and contemporary China to see how artists and intellectuals responded, and resisted, as their societies grew increasingly intolerant of dissent. We discuss the current state of the United States, the rift between exiles and those who choose to stay, and the moral implications of "inner emigration." Readings: Ian Buruma: https://libertiesjournal.com/articles/staying-decent-in-an-indecent-society/ The Velvet Prison: https://www.amazon.com/Velvet-Prison-Miklos-Haraszti/dp/0465098002 Brave New World: https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523

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  Into Asia

  Trump at the Imperial Court

  May 17, 202632 min

  Chang and Ian unpack Trump's historic summit with Xi Jinping. They discuss the pageantry, the Taiwan question, the first serious bilateral talks on AI, plus the echoes of Marco Polo and the Macartney Missions: the consistent awe and fear that transpires whenever the West encounters the Middle Kingdom.

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  Into Asia

  Taiwan on the Eve of the Summit

  May 13, 202644 min

  Will Trump cut a deal with Xi that concedes ground on America's Taiwan policy? That is the question hanging over the US-China summit in Beijing this week. To talk through what's at stake, Ian and I are joined by Eyck Freymann, a Hoover fellow at Stanford and the author of Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China . Eyck makes the case for a more proactive form of US deterrence against Beijing than the current paradigm of "strategic ambiguity" allows called "structured ambiguity."

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