I'm not in Beijing and not capable of fixing this now. Suggest that anyone who has problems with the flash version just download the standalone MP3 file linked to in the podcast introduction. It definitely works.

I completely agree that, if China became democratic, the voting public would be no more enthusiastic about "free Tibet!" than the current government is. However, it would be a lot harder for them to maintain control. They might be wise to implement a two-tier system, where democracy is only extended to the Han areas -- in practice, "regional autonomy" would mean that the local government is able to act independently of public preference. This would, of course, highlight the Tibet issue and the double standard would serve as a rallying point.

The other alternative would be to extend democratic elections to the autonomous areas. I suspect this would result in nationalist politicians being elected in much of the Tibetan region. At best, this would be an embarrassment: the local government of a enormous land area explicitly opposing the government in Beijing. At worst, these political organisations could become the backbone of an armed insurrection, like what happened in Ireland with the old Sinn Fein.

This train of thought strikes me as more likely to be an obstacle to democratisation in China than to be a benefit to Tibetan or Uighur groups.

Good work chaps, this week was particularly good I thought. Personally I think you should feel free to carry on chatting for as many hours as you like.

Is there any chance of slightly upping the volume levels though? It's a bit of a struggle to hear sometimes on the subway even with my ipod volume on max.

can you guys do a podcast on china's environmental situation?

what are some of the public views on environmental degradation? where is the money being invested to clean it up? how serious is the water crisis in the north? how much of the actual health problems suffered by the population are being addressed? china is one of the world's largest solar panel producers, are they installing more panels domestically? what is the real state of their ecosystems? maybe you could look at things from a short, medium, and long term impact...

@Mattjustinkelly - We're planning an environment podcast that will feature Jonathan Watts and Alex Wang. Jon is the Asia environment reporter for The Guardian, and Alex heads the Natural Resources Defense Council in China. Great suggestion. Thanks especially for the specific questions you suggest.

@Pfeffer - Your point taken about four westerners and media bias; it would certainly be better to have more Chinese perspectives not just on this issue but on all the topics we cover. Unfortunately I have a hard time finding Chinese people who fairly represent, insofar as anyone can, "Chinese perspectives" and who also speak English fluently enough to really hang in often very rapid conversation.

As to your suggestion that we're saying there's no such thing as media bias, that's obviously not the case, and if you listen to the podcast you'll see that's so. But I stand by the assertion that there are profound misunderstandings among many Chinese people (in fact, among many people irrespective of nationality) about the way news is reported, written, and published, and these misunderstandings often lead them to conclude that bias is more pervasive than I believe it is. There's no question that bias exists, and I bristle about it probably much more than most westerners in China; I was simply interested in being fair to hardworking, generally fair-minded journalists who are often not at fault for the final product that goes to press.

-Kaiser

Thanks Kaiser, I'm gonna be in Beijing on a business trip June 23-27, Anthony suggested I go to one of your shows, are you performing any those dates? Any word on when he will be done with his Ride2Freedom expedition?

What was the Glenn Greenwald material that was referenced in the podcast?

This episode was less well moderated and got a bit confusing but was still good.