Shortly after Deborah Seligsohn was last on Sinica, in April, the lab leak hypothesis seemed suddenly to gain traction — at least in American media. This week, Kaiser invites Deborah back to the show to talk about why the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a notion long regarded by virologists as less probable than zoonotic transmission, has burst back into the conversation. Deborah served as the State Department’s Environment, Science, Technology and Health Counselor in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing from 2003 to 2007. She is an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University in Philadelphia.
3:00: The persistence of the lab leak theory
11:40: Navigating the political and institutional landscape within China
25:36: A view from Beijing’s perspective
31:02: Eliciting cooperation from Beijing, and what should our priorities be
Recommendations:
Deborah: The podcast This Week in Virology, particularly episodes 760 and 762, which touch on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kaiser: Richard L. Watkins, a candidate running for the U.S. Senate in North Carolina.
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A conversation with Chinese adoptees in the U.S.
Alarm bells in the ivory tower: Jim Millward on the Cambridge University Press censorship fiasco
Richard McGregor on the complicated ties between China, Japan, and the U.S. since World War II
North Korea behind the scenes, with Evan Osnos
China in drag: Michael Bristow discusses his new book on China’s — and one man’s — incredible transformation
China’s tightening grip on cyberspace
China’s environmental challenges: Overfishing, toxic soil, and unbreathable air
U.S.-China relations after six months of Trump, with Susan Shirk and Stan Rosen
Of dirty words and Party-speak: Sinica Podcast live in D.C.
Gillian Wong and Josh Chin on journalism careers in China
China’s great spiritual revival
Joan Kaufman on foreign nonprofits and academia in China
Straight talk on North Korea and China, with Lyle Goldstein
China’s Asian power play: Tom Miller on the future of Belt and Road
Jerome A. Cohen on human rights and law in China
Guo Wengui: The extraordinary tale of a Chinese billionaire turned dissident, told by Mike Forsythe and Alexandra Stevenson
David Rank, top U.S. diplomat, on why he resigned to protest Trump
Islamophobia in China, explained by Alice Su and Ma Tianjie
How does investigative reporting happen in China? A conversation with Li Xin of Caixin
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