Kaiser Kuo

AKA 郭怡廣. Host of the Sinica Podcast, a weekly discussion of current affairs in China. Guitarist of Chunqiu (春秋乐队 Spring & Autumn). Now at @kaiserkuo.bsky.social

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

1/ A quick word from me — not a promo, but a personal note.

If you’ve been listening to Sinica or reading the newsletter and found it valuable, I’d be grateful if you’d consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Here’s why 👇

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

I’ve never know Lizzi Lee to be off the mark when it comes to interpreting Chinese regulations, so she’s someone whose analysis I would implicitly trust. Certainly wouldn’t bet against her.

[李其 Lizzi @wstv_lizzi]

So many bad takes on the MOFCOM/MOST No. 48 draft announcement... + major market overreactions! This is an anticipated update to what is now a long-standing tech export-control catalogue. The catalogue has been revised and expanded repeatedly over the years e.g., in 2020, 2023, and 2025 and MOFCOM itself has made clear that this is now part of its regular, “normalized” tech-trade management (常态化管理) with the catalogue to be dynamically updated over time...
And MOFCOM is fairly explicit about commercial/deal/tech exports carve-outs and, on AI the near-term restriction focus is on security risks+ misuse.
Obviously a lot will come down to the details, and this is still a draft under consultation... but the move esp the direction was hardly out of the blue...

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@simonmontefiore A fantastic novel, very worthy of Harris! If you haven't read it already, I highly recommend John Williams's "Augustus," which naturally features many of the same events, put together through fragments, diaries, letters from Octavian's contemporaries.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@HistorianZhang My attempt at humor

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@david__moser

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

From @adam_tooze’s Chartbook, originally from John Bistline. WTF U.S.?

[Pallavi Aiyar @pallaviaiyar]

We're always groaning about our lack of civic sense in India. So let's take a look across the border to see how the Chinese—once renowned for spitting and cutting queues —are doing, on that front.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@Birdyword Merz was shamefully tone-deaf in invoking the Plaza Accord & insisting that one's needed for China. No thought at all about how it would fall on China's ears. The Plaza Accord might not have been the proximate cause of Japan's woes, but that's exactly how Beijing understands it.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@AndrewSethMeyer @lpolgreen @nytopinion Thanks! I was extremely nervous and forgot well over half of the things I had planned to say, but thankfully Lydia was a fantastic host and Rahmane Idrissa was brilliant and could carry it!

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@bill_hayton @RollandNadege Which is incoherent? NQH or China’s official stance?

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@CurtExplores @mattmcardl The Jing A Monkey’s Fist is a first class IPA!

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@anotterdisaster @RollandNadege I think the official or official-adjacent criticism of the New Qing History I’ve seen has tended to be too dismissive and oversimplified, and what it offers in place isn’t well supported empirically, but I’m very alive to the Party’s sensitivities to about the ramifications.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@thisischaniece Big love for this driver! Such a heartwarming interaction! Fantastic that she’s learning at such a young age.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@caithrin Yeah you really need to unpack this a bit!

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

And it's still only early innings.

[Kyle Chan @kyleichan]

China believes one of its greatest advantages is its “complete industrial system” 完整的工业体系.

Chinese policymakers believe it gives China an edge in developing and scaling up industries of the future.

“The world’s most comprehensive industrial system provides a solid foundation for developing industries of the future. China possesses the world’s most complete and largest industrial system, along with extensive supporting industrial capabilities. It is the only country in the world with every industrial category in the United Nations industrial classification system.

As the technological pathways of future industries gradually mature, the key to competition will be how quickly these technologies can be commercialized and scaled up for industrial production. China's full range of industrial sectors and enormous manufacturing scale provide the comprehensive supply chains needed to transform cutting-edge technologies into commercial products. This enables new products to be rapidly manufactured at scale, while production processes are continuously improved, costs reduced, and performance enhanced.

China has developed numerous internationally competitive, specialized industrial clusters in regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Bohai Rim. By leveraging these clusters, China can further capitalize on economies of agglomeration, accelerate the transition of cutting-edge technologies into mass production, and strengthen the overall competitiveness of finished products.”

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@kyleichan Hard to argue with that assertion! And harder still to compete against that insanely comprehensive industrial system.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@pourteaux I've had it before and even knowing where it came from I was willing to try it, and found it has a quite nice flavor — not at all unpleasant, but a big departure from the usual coffee I like. Still, not bad, and I wasn't grossed out.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

I’m shown to my breakfast table at the hotel here in Yogyakarta. Young hostess in braces asks if I’d like coffee, and I say yes please. “Americano? Latte? Cappuccino?” Just an espresso, I say. “No bullshit espresso?” she asks. “Yes! No bullshit espresso!” Stealing that.

[Kaiser Kuo @KaiserKuo]

@tea_and_sleep It’s lovely! Highly recommended.