Anti-lockdown protests are sweeping the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. What does the unrest tell us about China’s response to COVID-19? How serious a challenge are they for Xi Jinping’s legitimacy so soon after the 20th Party Congress? Meanwhile on the Korean Peninsula, 2022 has been a record year for Pyongyang’s ballistic missile tests. How far has the North’s nuclear programme and its missile systems developed, and what does it mean for the country’s neighbours such as Japan? Joining Bronwen Maddox in the studio to answer these questions and more are Ben Bland the Director of Chatham House’s Asia-Pacific programme and Dr Yu Jie a Senior Research Fellow with the Asia programme. Joining the panel this week from Washington DC is special guest Ankit Panda, the Stanton Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Editor-at-Large for The Diplomat magazine. Read our expertise: China’s zero-COVID cannot continue, reopening is needed Indonesia shows the value of non-aligned leadership Weathering the storm: In conversation with David Miliband Subscribe to Independent Thinking wherever you get your podcasts. Please listen, rate, review and subscribe. Presented by Bronwen Maddox. Produced by John Pollock. Sound by Abdul Boudiaf and Robin Gardner.