Day: August 12, 2022

Taiwan chip veteran calls working for China’s top foundry SMIC a ‘foolish’ decision

Chin@Strategy

“Because I am a US citizen, it did bother me a lot,” said Chiang, who pursued graduate studies at Princeton University and Stanford University. He added that he thought the mainland Chinese government did not trust him because he was a Taiwanese with US citizenship. Chiang relinquished all his roles at SMIC, including vice chairmanship and executive director, in November 2021. At the time, he told the Post he would return to the US to join his family and enjoy retirement. Advertisement In his interview with CHM, Chiang said he…

US and Chinese officials discuss Biden-Xi meeting amid Taiwan friction

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US and Chinese officials have been discussing a face-to-face meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, amid a significant escalation in friction over Taiwan. Kurt Campbell, the coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs in Biden’s national security council, confirmed on Friday that the two leaders had raised the possibility of an in-person meeting when they last talked by phone in late July “and agreed to have their team’s follow up to sort out the specifics”. Campbell said there were no new details to announce, but both leaders are expected to take part…

China’s Options for Punishing Taiwan Economically are Limited

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In retaliation for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week, China conducted large-scale military exercises around the self-governing island democracy and suspended some trade between the sides. The exercises led to a few shipping disruptions, but they did not affect traffic at Taiwanese or Chinese ports, analysts say. And the trade bans were notable mainly for what they did not target: Taiwan’s increasingly powerful semiconductor industry, a crucial supplier to Chinese manufacturers. The bans that Beijing did impose — on exports of its natural sand to Taiwan, and on…

The Realist Underpinnings of China’s Taiwan Strategy

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Advertisement China’s aggressive response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei has prompted criticism, and no small measure of alarm, both within and beyond the region. It included dispatching People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) jets across the median line separating Taiwan from China, and China’s military engaging in a concurrent series of drills in six separating locations on each side of the island – the closest less than 12 nautical miles from Taiwan’s shore. The high-risk exercises involved firing munitions around and over the island, some of…

Hong Kongers in Exile Fight for Their Truth – and Ukrainians 

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement In the bustling Prague 7 district, an art exhibition takes place featuring work on the life and pro-democracy struggle of local activists and youth in Hong Kong. A white sculpture in the main hall, with goggles, umbrella, and a gas mask, catches the eye first. The attire, blended in white clay with the rest of the statue, is symbolic and was once donned by thousands of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong when the city was seeing waves of intense protests in 2019 and early 2020 – mainly in opposition…

Billboards celebrating Hong Kong’s ‘new era’ to stay up in Australia despite complaints

Chin@Strategy

Billboards with a message from the man who led Beijing’s security crackdown in Hong Kong will remain on Australian streets despite complaints. The advertisements in Sydney and Melbourne celebrate “a new era” in Hong Kong, where the Chinese Communist party has imposed new security laws and quashed dissent. They feature a website with a message from Hong Kong chief executive John Lee, who oversaw that security blitz. <gu-island name="TweetBlockComponent" deferuntil="visible" props="{"element":{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement","html":" Prime Minister @AlboMP, this billboard glorifying China’s “New Era” of repression in Hong Kong is in your electorate. Can…

Weather tracker: deadly floods in South Korea and drought in China

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Extreme flooding in South Korea this week submerged streets, cars and buildings, as torrential downpours brought more than a month’s worth of rainfall in the space of a few days. Between Monday and Wednesday a cumulative total of 525mm – a little over 20 inches – was recorded in Seoul. At least nine people are confirmed to have died from the floods and many more are reported injured or missing. High rainfall rates and flooding during the monsoon season in South Korea is common, with average rainfall of up to…