State of Asia

South Korea is heading to the polls to elect a successor to impeached President Yoon, whose failed attempt to put the country under martial law back in December laid bare the deep divisions and gloom that plague Korean society.

We talk about all this with Eunwoo Lee in Seoul, from where he writes for The Diplomat.

Want more Korea? Join us in Zurich on June 25 for an evening with stellar Korean author Bora Chung. More info and tickets...

The defining characteristic of the environment in China has been its pace of change. And that has its impact on the latest generation of Chinese entrepreneurs who need to innovate to meet the tough demands of Chinese consumers.

The message is: adapt or get washed away. It's like constantly swimming with piranhas, says Zak Dychtwald, our guest on this episode. The skill to adapt to people's always evolving demands, is incre...

Bich Tran, a senior fellow at Verve Research, an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a nonresident fellow at We Protect our Seas, discusses Vietnam's strategies at navigating geopolitical turmoil, while the country celebrates fifty years since its 1975 reunification. Why is the country rapidly increasing and intensifying its diplomatic ties around the world? Can it overcome the challenges ...

Asia Society Switzerland's Manuela Coldesina (live from Tokyo), Serena Jung, Nico Luchsinger, and Remko Tanis try to discuss everything that happened thus far in 2025 and the insights many experts shared with us over these months in events and podcasts.

Impossible? Let's find out.

Full recaps and recordings of all our events are available on our website, and on the Asia Society YouTube channel.

Stay up-to-date on all future ...

Selina Ho, Associate Professor in International Affairs and Co-Director of the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, discusses the Southeast Asia trip of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, why she labels China's foreign policy as both assertive and insecure, and why China is using the Korean War of the 1950s to rally its population behind the country's lead...

China's patent applications have surpassed every other country for over a decade and the speed with which technology out of China impresses the world has picked up in the last few years. Its factories churn out cutting-edge electric vehicles packed with futuristic features – so advanced that European carmakers are now partnering with Chinese firms to gain access to their technology. A complete reversal of the old playbook. In ...

Switzerland was one of the first western nations to recognize the People's Republic of China, in 1950, and one of the first to reach a free trade agreement with Beijing as well, in 2013. Historian Ariane Knüsel explores the special bond between China and Switzerland in Die Schweiz und China, a book she co-authored with Ralph Weber.

Ariane spoke at an event in our Talk at the Library series. More info, and her bio, is available ...

Semiconductors, EVs, AI, TSMC, BYD, DeepSeek...

In a time when trade, technology, and global power dynamics are more interconnected and in flux than ever before, we turn to an expert on all those things on this episode: John Lee, a leading voice on high-tech industries in China and the region, and on how they impact foreign relations.

John is the 2025 TOY Senior Fellow at Asia Society Switzerland, which means he'll be around fre...

For years, for most of us, news on global trade mostly hid out in the pages of The Wall Street Journal or the Financial Times. Not anymore. as the U.S. is threatening and hitting friend and foe with punitive tariffs. The rules-based system that has been governing global trade seems to be evaporating in front of our eyes.

What does that mean for consumers, companies, and governments in Europe and Asia? Hear insights from both contine...

Late last year, at our annual STATE OF ASIA conference, we hosted a conversation on the economic developments in Japan, China, and India.

After decades of stagnation, Japan’s economy is showing optimism from structural shifts like labor market reforms and wage increases that are finally starting to pay off.

 In China, growth has peaked and the government is yet to succeed in convincing its population it’s okay to spend money.

All the ...

Kaiser Kuo, host of the long-running Sinica podcast, joins us in Zurich to discuss the evolving narrative on China, and why the West is so often 'stunned' by Chinese breakthroughs in electric vehicles, green technology, or, most recently: AI, with DeepSeek.
We explore the reasons behind the challenges of reporting on China, the importance of strategic empathy, and the shifting dynamics of global influence, particularl...

India and Indonesia, the juggernaut democracies of South and Southeast Asia, both ended 2024 with new governments that hold new ambitions. How will this pan out in the year to come?

We talked about this with Dewi Fortuna Anwar, one of Indonesia’s foremost foreign policy experts; and Garima Mohan, Senior Fellow in the Indo-Pacific Program at the German Marshall Fund. The conversation is moderated by James Crabtree, 2024 TOY...

We check in with Schoni Song in Seoul, to discuss this morning's unprecedented arrest of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is accused of leading an insurrection. How have people in South Korea responded to the news, and what could come next?

Schoni is a former colleague at Asia Society and was a speaker in our 2023 webcast A Closer Look at South Korea.

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STATE OF ASIA is a podcast from Asia Societ...

China is undergoing unprecedented changes domestically, while also dealing with the challenges of a volatile world.

Listen to Qing Wang, host of the popular Chinese-language podcast The Weirdo; Zichen Wang, Research Fellow at the Center for China and Globalization; and Adam Tooze, economic historian and professor at Columbia University discuss the state of China.
The discussion is moderated by Finbarr Birmingham, Europ...

We're kicking off the year with two great minds discussing the State of the World as Asia's global importance continues to grow, Europe seems somewhat lost, and the U.S. is preparing for the return of Donald Trump to the White House.

Listen to Asia Society President & CEO Kyung-wha Kang and economic historian Adam Tooze, professor at Columbia University in New York. Their conversation was recorded at STATE OF...

The Gen A Young Leadership Program is a key initiative of Asia Society Switzerland. It brings together a group of around 25 vetted young professionals and advance students to participate in a year of deepening their Asia knowledge and to provide them with the tools to interpret developments in Asia and identify opportunities for successful collaboration. Gen A enables the next generation of leaders to engage with Asia at eye level ...

Deepti Kapoor's Age of Vice, published in 2023, is a story of power, corruption, and complicity, set in modern India. In the early 2000s, the lives of Ajay, Neda, and Sunny – the novel's three main characters – cross in New Delhi. There is idealism, optimism even; but also crime, drugs, and violence, as Sunny Wadia follows in the footsteps of his powerful father. Age of Vice, which became a New York Times bestseller and w...

On November 6, 2024, leading global thinker Adam Tooze delivered Asia Society Switzerland's third annual State of Asia Address in front of a full house in the prestigious aula of the University of Zurich, our partner for this event.

Adam holds the Shelby Cullom Davis chair of History at Columbia University in New York City. In 2019, Foreign Policy Magazine named him one of the top Global Thinkers of the decade.

China and India seem to be en route to a better, or less bad, relationship for the first time in years. Germany published its first 'Focus on India' policy paper, immediately followed by a visit of Chancellor Scholz to New Delhi.
The new EU Commission has specifically named India as an important part of its strategies.
Russia, just like India a founding member of BRICS and host of that forum's 2024 summit, ha...