Starcast
Join the waitlist
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
China Decode: Taiwan's Record Defense Budget, Evergrande's Life Sentence, and China's Robot Boom
Coming soon to iPhone. Already have it? “Listen in Starcast” takes you straight there.
On this episode
About this episode
Alice Han and James Kynge start in Taipei, where the government has approved a record $35 billion defense budget for 2027 — an 18.2% jump — coming right on the heels of this year's Han Kuang drills, which mobilized nearly 22,000 reservists and adopted U.S.-style command tactics for the first time. They dig into what it means for Taiwan's military readiness, and whether this is more about deterring China or convincing Washington. Then: Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan — once China's richest man — has been sentenced to life in prison for financial fraud on a staggering scale, closing the book on the world's largest corporate liquidation tied to the property sector. Alice and James ask whether…