In this edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA and Miguel Alberto Gomez, Senior Research Fellow with the Centre on Asia and Globalisation at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, sat to discuss US tech governance on frontier AI and policy lessons from the 1990s’ Crypto Wars.

On June 12, 2026, the US Commerce Department restricted foreign access to Anthropic’s Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models, citing national security concerns. The episode highlighted a policy struggle over how to manage the risks of increasingly capable, dual-use AI without undermining innovation or pushing users toward less-regulated alternatives.

Miguel Alberto Gomez, Senior Research Fellow with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy’s Centre on Asia and Globalisation, addressed this subject in “The US and Anthropic: Echoes of the Crypto Wars in the struggle over AI governance,” a paper written for the Hinrich Foundation in July, on how the Crypto Wars of the 1990s offer a cautionary precedent. Gomez’s paper discussed questions over whether tighter controls on advancing AI capabilities deliver greater security or backfire on their policy goals.

Tune in to this podcast as Gomez joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to discuss the challenge of governing AI.

Download Transcript

Tune into the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast series for insights on international trade.

In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Ian Storey, Principal Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, to examine Southeast Asia’s renewed interest in nuclear power and how Russia and China are competing to shape the region’s nuclear future.

Southeast Asia is again giving serious consideration to nuclear power after decades of hesitation. Rising electricity demand, commitments to achieve net-zero emissions, recent energy supply disruptions, and advances in small modular reactors are strengthening the case for nuclear energy across the region. Vietnam is moving ahead with plans for nuclear power, while Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand are at different stages of considering nuclear as part of their future energy mix.

As regional interest grows, Russia and China are positioning themselves as important suppliers. Russia has a longstanding foothold, with Rosatom offering financing and construction of nuclear power plants, along with long-term operation and waste management, while China may be pursuing a longer-term strategy to expand its global nuclear role in the region. For Southeast Asian governments, the choice of supplier goes beyond technology and cost, raising questions about regulatory capacity, energy security, and the risk of long-term dependence on foreign suppliers.

Tune in to this podcast as Ian Storey, Principal Fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, joins the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA to discuss Southeast Asia’s growing nuclear ambitions, Russia and China’s push to deepen their roles as suppliers, and what this could mean for the region’s energy security and strategic autonomy. The podcast is based on Storey’s recent paper for the Hinrich Foundation, “Going Nuclear, Part 2: Russia, China, and Southeast Asia’s nuclear power ambitions.”

Download Transcript

Tune into the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast series for insights on international trade.

In this special edition of the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast on global trade, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA sits down with Robert D. Atkinson, Senior Fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), to discuss China’s growing technological and industrial strength, the areas in which the West still holds an advantage, and what it must do to remain competitive.

China’s rise as a technological and industrial power has challenged long-held Western assumptions about how innovation, markets, and state intervention shape competitiveness, Robert D. Atkinson, Senior Fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), said. Its advantage rests not only on the size of its economy, but also on extensive, highly integrated supply chains, large-scale subsidies, and a state-directed model that aligns firms with national priorities. China already leads in electric vehicles, nuclear power, and telecommunications equipment, while advancing rapidly in robotics and investing aggressively in aerospace, biotechnology, and quantum technologies, he said.

By contrast, the West’s remaining advantages lie in powerful multinational companies, a strong entrepreneurial culture, and greater freedom to innovate. But they count for little if innovation cannot be turned into competitive production at scale. Efforts to translate technological strengths into industrial capacity are plagued by short-term financial incentives, fragmented policymaking, inadequate US research funding, and weak coordination among allies, Atkinson said. The central challenge is whether the West can marshal its strengths behind a serious, coordinated industrial strategy before China’s advantages become more deeply entrenched.

Tune in to this podcast organized by the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents-USA and supported by the Hinrich Foundation to unpack how China’s state-directed model has proven so effective and why pressure is mounting on the West to respond. The podcast is based on Atkinson’s recent paper for the Hinrich Foundation, “Is the West better than China?”

Download Transcript

Tune into the Hinrich Foundation’s podcast series for insights on international trade.