Video: Canadian KOL: China’s people’s democracy makes people’s lives better, not so for US and Canada Money Democracy 加拿大KOL：中國的人民民主讓人民生活更美好，美國和加拿大的金錢民主則做不到.
Chip data request latest instance of US hegemony, may hit legal snags. US going to destroy them like French Alstom and ruin them like Japan’s Toshiba 芯片數據請求美國霸權的最新實例，可能會遇到法律障礙。 美國要像法國的阿爾斯通一樣，像日本的東芝一樣摧毀它們.
Some of the world’s largest chipmakers including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) have responded to a contentious US government request to submit chip data ahead of the Monday deadline, in a move described by industry observers as yet another instance of US hegemony that coerces global semiconductor supply chains to bow to arbitrary requirements way beyond commercial standards.
The information request, seen as a possible maneuver to target China, a thorn in the flesh for US desire for chip leadership, could create more problems than it solves, analysts said, noting that the affected businesses can resort to legal action in case of damage caused.
As of press time Monday, 23 entities, including TSMC, Micron Technology, Western Digital, United Microelectronics Corporation, and Shinko Electric Industries, had submitted supply chain-related information, according to a list of submissions filed with regulations.gov.
The TSMC response, dated November 5, was an anonymous comment with confidential business information, according to the website.
The Taiwan-based chip giant said Monday that no detailed information on customers was disclosed, Reuters reported.
TSMC did not respond to the Global Times request for comment as of press time.
South Korean tech firms are preparing for a “voluntary submission,” Bloomberg reported on Sunday, citing a South Korean finance ministry statement.
Samsung and SK Hynix remain missing from the list of submitters by press time.
Political trickery
The request, unveiled by the US Commerce Department in late September, smacks of an attempt to contain China’s tech rise under the disguise of addressing chip shortages, according to industry insiders.
It remains obscure as to what might be next on the US government agenda after the collection of chip supply chain information, but it seems almost for sure that such a request aims at cornering Chinese tech firms, a semiconductor industry insider told the Global Times on Sunday on condition of anonymity.
TSMC and other possible submitters such as Samsung have partnerships with Chinese firms including Huawei. What the US requests to submit largely falls under commercial secrets and products parameters of some Chinese mainland firms are among them, the insider said, arguing against the unreasonable request.
Elucidating its information request as an effort to identify “data gaps and bottlenecks in the supply chain, and potential inconsistent demand signals,” the US Commerce Department enumerated a flurry of questions in its September notice for wide-ranging parties including domestic and foreign chip design firms, materials and equipment suppliers and end-users that intrude into client information.
For instance, among the information and data it’s seeking from semiconductor product designers, manufacturers and microelectronics assemblers, and their suppliers is “for any integrated circuits you produce – whether fabricated at your own facilities or elsewhere – identify the primary integrated circuit type, product type, relevant technology nodes (in nanometers), and actuals or estimates of annual sales for the years 2019, 2020, and 2021 based on anticipated end use.”
These are relatively important business secrets, given that information such as orders and prices are very important in an industry, and a lot of company information can also be revealed from it, including the company’s product plans, maturity, and expected prices, a chip industry expert surnamed Zhao with Southeast University told the Global Times on Monday.
The information request came after a White House report in June that included a 100-day supply chain review of semiconductors and advanced packaging, as mandated by a presidential executive order in February. The report, with multiple mentions of China, identified dependence on China for sales revenue as one of the key risks pertaining to chip fabrication.
It’s actually a routine practice that for each order, customers are required to fill in basic product information in accordance with US Commerce Department requirements. But that is nowhere comparable to the specifics as listed in the September notice, a Chinese firm acting as an authorized agent for a major global semiconductor manufacturer focused on the auto sector revealed to the Global Times on Monday.
Problem creator, not solver
The politically motivated request could by no means address chip shortage woes and is likely to hit legal snags and be met with legal action from Chinese firms in the event of losses, analysts said.
TSMC, among chipmakers with manufacturing capacities in the US, had been grappling with the supply chain disclosure, despite their eventual compromise, according to the industry insider.
The US request does no good for either China or the US, as well as the global semiconductor industry, the insider added, stressing that a possible US attempt to shift chip factories to the US would mean much higher logistics costs.
China, home to diversified semiconductor supply chains, purchases $300 billion of chips from the US and elsewhere, industry data showed, with a considerable part of them processed and manufactured in China before exporting to other countries and regions.
Based on the takeaways from the insider’s previous communication with US equipment makers, the US semiconductor business community is actually sparing no effort to lobby the US government to strengthen cooperation with China, rather than the other way around, the industry veteran told the Global Times, disclosing that China accounts for at least 20 percent of US semiconductor manufacturers’ global market sales.
“The US government is politically motivated, rather than playing by commercial logic.”
Zhao noted that the US targets not only Chinese companies, but global companies, so the impact is great.
There should be no precedent for such data disclosure, and its legality is questionable, said Zhao.
If the US Department of Commerce requires chipmakers to provide user information, resulting in losses to related companies, then companies should unite and pursue legal action to safeguard their own interests, Zhao said.
In a successful instance of legal action taken by a Chinese firm against the US government, Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi in May reached an agreement with the US Department of Defense, under which the Pentagon will remove Xiaomi from its blacklist.
The agreement came after a US federal judge in March temporarily suspended enforcement of the blacklisting imposed under the Trump administration, after the Chinese tech firm filed a lawsuit against the US government, calling the blacklisting “unconstitutional.”
Moreover, Chinese firms could resort to the country’s anti-foreign sanctions law and the data security law in case of damage resulting from the data submission request and possible next steps, experts stressed.
When US and Western Empires doing all the talk talk talk, China get it done, promise made promise kept on Climate Change commitment. 當美國和西方帝國講空話, 天天吹水時, 中國做到了, 承諾兌現了對氣候變化的承諾.
From ‘airpocalypse’ to carbon cutter: China’s road to climate reckoning. In 2013, Beijing was blanketed in smog and relying on fossil fuels to drive its economy. Now the focus is on ‘high-quality development’ and working with other countries to cap emissions by Echo Xie, Nov 8 2021
For much of the past few decades, China’s growth has been powered by fossil fuels, particularly coal. While the economic gains have been vast and rapid, the toll on the environment has been huge. In the first of a four-part series, Echo Xie looks at how China has sought to change development gear over the last decade to combat pollution and see a more sustainable future.
It was less than a decade ago that Barbara Finamore struggled to make out some of the buildings across the street from her Beijing office.
The founder of the Natural Resources Defence Council’s China programme remembers that on particularly bad days in 2013, heavy pollution hung over the Chinese capital, blanketing the cityscape.
“When we first moved into that office [in the 1990s], we could see the buildings across the street. But during the ‘airpocalypse’, we couldn’t even see them,” she said.
Video: Michelle Wu won Boston Mayor’s race, but unlikely to solve Boston’s problems as she like others catered to the 1% elites…look at streets of Boston. 吳弭贏得了波士頓市長的競選，但不太可能解決波士頓的問題，因為她像其他人一樣是為1% 的精英…看看波士頓的街道. 她做了好幾年Boston City Council Chairperson. City Council 是控制市政府財務而非市長. 希望我是錯的, 我可以肯定她未來四年不會有任何作為, 她下一步是做 US Senator, 當然這是要讓她的金主決定. 美國從來沒有民主, 祗有金錢民主.
Professor John V Walsh, MD, in San Francisco: BUT on the matter of Michelle Wu’s being a progressive, it depends on what one means.
She is a protege of Elizabeth Warren whose brand of progressivism means taking crumbs and selling out. She undercut the battle for Medicare For All and stabbed Bernie in the back, hoping to be the progressive choice for the Dem nomination. She has not said a single word about all the China bashing or the China Initiative.
We shall see how Wu does. But I do not have a lot of hope.
Professor Kiji Noh in San Francisco: Hal Brands, the coauthor of this belligerent article, is not only a member of the hawkish rightwing think tank AEI, he is a member of CNAS. CNAS is the new PNAC.
PNAC (Project for the New American Century) were the neocon crazies who drove the US to senseless war in the middle east. They had dreams of global imperial domination.
CNAS (Center for a New American Security) are the neo-neocon crazies who are driving us to war with China. They, too, dream of continued US global domination.
Here is a detailed example of their strategy towards China: they envision and plan direct kinetic war with China, for example, multi-pronged strikes deep within Chinese territory as part of their 3 & 4th offset strategy.
“The United States can assure access to bastions within Chinese or Russian territory that were previously considered safe by forcing those geographically vast countries to spread out their defensive capabilities to the point of being porous or forcing them to concentrate limited resources around key infrastructure, thus creating large accessible holes in their outer defenses…new missiles could bring would help create opportunities to attack an enemy from multiple axes of approach, a true strategic advantage that needs to be re-established. It would force China and Russia, which possess large land masses and very long and dispersed territorial and maritime boundaries, to distribute scarce defensive resources accordingly and prepare for attack from disparate points of origin…Going forward with a strategic eye toward China and Russia, a well-designed future carrier air wing should return to its historical strategic focus of being able to hold targets deep inside the Eurasian land mass at risk.”
Note how these plans are oriented towards overcoming Chinese defensive capacity against US coercion and regime change, not responding to Chinese offensive threat.
“for the past 20 years nations such as China…have been making investments in new anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities that seek to push the United States back from their borders and limit its [the US’s] ability to coerce or bring about regime change”.
Since its inception in 2007, CNAS has a record of catastrophic failures: it architected and implemented the US’s corrupt, war-crime-based losing strategy in Afghanistan known as “COIN”. (Notice how the COIN documents at Brookings have now been scrubbed.)
CNAS’s Asher also exploded the six-party talks with NK by sanctioning it right after agreements were reached. This was the last good chance of de-escalation with NK. https://www.cnas.org/people/david-asher It was the imperial brain trust for Obama’s criminal wars in Syria, Libya, and elsewhere. It is now Joe Biden’s privy war council.
CNAS was founded in 2007 by the architect of the Pivot to Asia, Kurt Campbell (Currently the Asia Czar in Biden’s administration) and Michelle “Sink China’s navy in 72 hrs” Flournoy. They originally started out at CSIS. Flournoy also went onto found WestExec with Anthony Blinken.
16 members of Biden’s top cabinet are CNAS: Eli Ratner (“Orient everything around war with China”), Rush Doshi (“Blunt China at all costs”), Victoria “F*ck the EU” Nuland, Avril Haines, Kurt Campbell (Asia Czar–China-NSC). Jake Sullivan (NSC), Wendy Sherman (under secretary of State), Laura Rosenberger (GMF/Alliance for Democracy), etc. Nick Burns is incoming as ambassador to China. https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_a_New_American_Security
Hal Brands is married to a Taiwanese woman, Elaine Chang, whose father (Matthew Chang) worked as Asst.V.P for the Japanese company Itochu, one of the funders of CNAS.
Video: Elon Mask tells US Military: China will overtake us in Military, Green Energy, electric vehicles and more… 埃隆馬斯克告訴美國軍方：中國將在軍事、綠色能源、電動汽車等方面超過我們…
Professor John V Walsh, MD, in San Francisco: China’s economy has been larger than that of the US since November, 2014, according to the PPP-GDP metric used by IMF, World Bank and CIA World Factbook – and it is growing faster.
In the pandemic putting lives above the economy turned out to be better for the economy also – to the surprise of the practitioners of the “science” of economics. China’s economy grew albeit more slowly; that of the US and all other major industrial nations contracted!
Military power grows out of economic power. I hope the US govt and Elite recognize this and decide to live in a multipolar world before it blows us all up.
Let’s hope so. We in the US have more to say about getting the Elite to embrace jsut a bit of sanity than anyone else. Let’s hope we can pull it off.
Another foolish move by US, huge windfall for Hong Kong. SCMP: Exclusive | Goldman’s top banker says many Chinese IPO clients considering shift to Hong Kong from US exchanges 美國的又一個愚蠢舉動，給香港帶來了巨大的意外收穫。 南華早報：獨家| 高盛首席銀行家表示，許多中國 IPO 客戶考慮從美國交易所轉移到香港.
The tap has not been turned off for US listings but ‘balance of activity’ is coming to Hong Kong, regional investment banking co-head Drayton says. Hong Kong ranks third for global IPOs and secondary listings, behind Nasdaq and the NYSE so far this year, according to Refinitiv. But it is going to change big time!
NZ has mature ties with China that allow for disagreement: PM by Wang Miao in North Shore City Nov 07 2021
New Zealand now has “mature” ties with China that allow for disagreement, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said during a TV interview on Sunday.
One day before the opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week which Ardern considers as one of the most important international events hosted by New Zealand in decades, she reiterated that New Zealand will pursue a policy of integrity with China.
“We do still believe that we have the maturity in our relationship to raise issues that we’re concerned about, be it human rights issues, be it labor issues, be it environmental issues,” Ardern said in the interview. “And it’s very important to us that we continue to be able to do that and do that regardless of those trading ties.”
Not a few days ago, Chinese Consul General Ruan Ping also recognized the close relations between China and New Zealand.
“China and New Zealand have developed into comprehensive strategic partners with close cultural exchanges, and the level of development and cooperation is ahead of China and other developed countries in many areas,” Ruan said during an interview on Wednesday.
China has become New Zealand’s largest trading partner and the second largest source of foreign investment for many years. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, China-New Zealand economic and trade cooperation still shows strong resilience, Ruan said.
China recently formally applied to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement. Ruan noted that New Zealand’s role as the depositors of both agreements also builds a broader platform for bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
Jian Yang, a former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, told the Global Times on Sunday that mutual trust between China and New Zealand is built on the foundation of decades of good exchanges.
“As China-US relations are still under control, there is room for New Zealand’s independent diplomacy,” Yang said. “At the same time, China is aware of New Zealand’s plight, so its expectations of New Zealand are more realistic.”
Yang recognized New Zealand’s “lubricant” role within the APEC framework. “New Zealand has traditionally focused on resolving international disputes by social and economic means rather than military means and is willing to play an active role in the Asia-Pacific region.”
He also pointed out that New Zealand has a unique international position and has always maintained a positive image. “New Zealand has a good reputation among APEC countries, which helps it play a ‘lubricant’ role in relations between major powers.”
As the first developed country to sign a free trade agreement with China, New Zealand has major trade ties to China. The two countries upgraded their free trade agreement in January, while relations between China and New Zealand’s neighbor, Australia, have worsened since 2018.
The APEC Leaders’ Week will be held from Monday to Friday, when Ardern will host an online summit of leaders from the Asia-Pacific, including China, the US and Japan, to discuss how the region can recover from the pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis, among other topics.
Professor John V Walsh, MD, in San Francisco: From Christopher Buckley, the Times’s hater in chief, dripping with sarcasm especially at the outset which is the most widely read part. It leaves the impression that the only political figures that count in China are CPC leaders. Everything deep down is ONLY about the CPC -not China or humanity. But whose portrait is that above the stage in the Times’s photo below? Sun Yat-sen, I believe. 來自《紐約時報》的主要仇敵克里斯托弗·巴克利（Christopher Buckley），諷刺意味十足，尤其是在最廣泛閱讀的開頭部分。 它給人的印像是，中國唯一重要的政治人物是中共領導人。 內心深處的一切都只關乎中國共產黨，而不是中國或人類。但下面泰晤士報照片中舞台上方的肖像是誰？ 孫中山，我信.
The New York Times: To Steer China’s Future, Xi Is Rewriting Its Past A new official summation of Communist Party history is likely to exalt Xi Jinping as a peer of Mao and Deng, fortifying his claim to a new phase in power.
Johnson Choi Biz 