This week on Sinica, I welcome back Jeremy Goldkorn, co-founder of the show and my longtime co-host, to revisit the “vibe shift” we first discussed back in February. Seven months on, what we sensed then has fully borne out — there’s been a measurable softening in American attitudes toward China, reflected not just in polling data but in media coverage, podcast discussions, and public discourse. We dig into what’s driving this shift: the chaos of American politics making China look competent by comparison, the end of Wolf Warrior diplomacy, the gutting of China hawks in the Trump administration, Trump’s own transactional G2 enthusiasm, and the generational divide in how younger Americans encounter China through TikTok rather than legacy media. We also discuss the limits of this shift, the dangers of overcorrection, and what it feels like to watch the fever break after years of panic and absolutism in U.S.-China discourse.
5:29 – The [beep] show in America as the biggest factor
8:38 – China hawks deflated: from Pompeo to Navarro’s pivot to India
11:21 – Ben Smith’s piece on the end of a decade of China hawkism
13:30 – Eric Schmidt and Selina Xu’s Atlantic piece on tech decoupling
17:17 – Long-form China podcasts: Dwarkesh Patel with Arthur Kroeber, Lex Fridman with Keyu Jin
19:35 – Jeremy’s personal vibe shift: distance from The China Project and renewed perspective
23:33 – The world turning to predictability and stability
26:05 – The Chicago Council poll: dramatic shift away from containment
29:09 – The generational shift: TikTok, infrastructure porn, and Gen Z’s globalized worldview
31:15 – The end of Wolf Warrior diplomacy and why it mattered
37:03 – Kaiser’s “Great Reckoning“ essay and why it didn’t get the usual hate
39:00 – The destruction of Twitter and the vicious China discourse culture
41:10 – The pendulum swinging too far: China fanboys and new hubris
43:20 – How the vibe shift looks from inside China
Paying it forward: Echo Tang (Berlin Independent Chinese Film Festival organizer) and Zhu Rikun (New York Chinese Independent Film Festival organizer)
Recommendations:
Jeremy: Ja No Man: Growing Up in Apartheid Era South Africa by Richard Poplak
Kaiser: Rhyming Chaos podcast with Jeremy Goldkorn and Maria Repnikova
