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Xi Jinping's solution to his "Taiwan problem"
"Xi has made it clear he plans to go solve the Taiwan problem while he's still in office." That's New York Times national security correspondent and New Cold Wars author David Sanger on why China's leader is setting his sights on the slender island off its eastern coast. Xi Jinping has made no secret of his belief that Taiwan belongs to China and that it is a national security imperative to bring it under Chinese sovereignty. But it's also an American national security imperative to prevent Xi from doing so, says Sanger. That's because the small island nation still manufactures the vast majority of the critical semiconductor microchips that power our modern world in both China and the United States.
"What Biden has done here in the semiconductor field of trying to choke the Chinese of the most advanced chips, but also the equipment to make those chips while trying to build up here, is the right step." At the same time, however, the Biden administration's push to manufacture more chips in the United States may also imperil the "silicon shield" that currently protects Taiwan from its Chinese neighbor. Nevertheless, Sanger argues that it's not just an industrial imperative for the United States to become self-sufficient in this area. It's a national defense imperative one as well."For our long-term security, it is much more important to build those [semiconductor factories] fabs than it is to build those aircraft carriers."
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week on US public television (check local listings) and online.
- Biden, chips, and the Silicon Shield ›
- The geopolitics of the chips that make your tech work ›
- Graphene: Could it reduce chip-making costs? ›
- Taiwan’s outsize importance in manufacturing semiconductor chips ›
- The semiconductor battle is heating up ›
- Why the US-China relationship is more stable than you might think - GZERO Media ›
US TikTok ban: China’s complaints are a double standard
Beijing blocks US technology companies like Facebook, Google, and X from operating in China. So why is the Chinese government so upset over the proposed TikTok ban in Congress? US Ambassador to China Nick Burns discussed China’s double standard when it comes to foreign tech firms on GZERO World with Ian Bremmer. The US has been pushing for TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app’s US operation, and millions of nationalist netizens on Chinese social media are decrying it as another example of the US limiting China’s global rise.
Burns says the idea that American firms could operate in China by following Chinese data and national security laws isn’t a convincing argument because a wide swath of US tech has been blocked for years, and China’s “Great Firewall” was set up to insulate Chinese people from the rest of the world. China’s rationale for US tech companies’ absence in China, he says, is fundamentally anti-democratic.
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week on US public television (check local listings) and online.
- China’s tech crackdown & the Jack Ma problem ›
- TikTok, Huawei, and the US-China tech arms race ›
- US-China tech tensions: the impact on the global digital landscape ›
- US-China tech “Cold War” is on ›
- US-China relationship at its most stable in years as Yellen visits ›
- Why the US-China relationship is more stable than you might think - GZERO Media ›
China shouldn’t “coerce or intimidate” the Philippines in the South China Sea, says US Ambassador
Tensions are rising between China and the Philippines over control of the South China Sea, which Beijing sees as its territory, and Manila as its exclusive economic zone. On GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, US Ambassador Nick Burns explained the US position that it is concerned about China’s aggression in the South China Sea, particularly at Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef where Manila deliberately beached a ship in 1999 and has used as a military outpost ever since.
“China should not seek to coerce or intimidate the government of the Philippines at Second Thomas Shoal,” Burns stresses, “The Philippines has an absolute right to resupply their forces.”
Burns emphasizes broad international support for the Philippines’ rights in the area, referencing the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between Washington and Manila. Tensions in the region have escalated sharply since Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in early March, injuring four Filipino crew members. Burns says China needs to act responsibly and commit to a peaceful resolution on the issue.Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week on US public television (check local listings) and online.
US aims to maintain military advantage over China by controlling tech
“In critical areas, essential for our national security, we're not going to permit trade,” Burns says, “There's a lot of complaints that I receive from my Chinese counterparts about our de-risking strategy, and I remind them you're doing the same thing.”
Prohibiting the sale of semiconductors isn’t about limiting China’s economy or tech industry, but about maintaining America’s advantage in the race for military development. Burns points to growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific, where the US is keenly interested in maintaining military superiority, and says that so far Washington’s action has been limited to a small yard. Limiting chip exports, he says, is the only way to prevent Chinese leadership from acquiring powerful technologies that could tip the balance of power.Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week on US public television (check local listings) and online.
Where the US & China agree - and where they don't
“This is largely a competitive relationship,” Burns tells Bremmer. It’ll likely be a systemic rivalry well into the 2030s between the two largest economies in the world and the two strongest militaries in the world, so what happens here is very consequential.”
Catch GZERO World with Ian Bremmer every week on US public television (check local listings) and online.
Ian Explains: Xi Jinping's nationalist agenda is rebuilding walls around China
On Ian Explains, Ian Bremmer breaks down how Xi Jinping is turning China inwards at a time when it can’t afford to close itself off. Since assuming the presidency in 2012, Xi has consolidated power within the Communist Party to become China’s most dominant ruler since Chairman Mao Zedong. Under Xi’s watch, China has rolled back democratic rights in Hong Kong, implemented crackdowns on the powerful tech, finance, and real estate sectors, restricted English in schools, and even expanded the definition of espionage so broadly that basic interactions with foreigners are viewed as suspect.
President Xi’s nationalist vision has become so dominant that it's written into the Constitution and official history of the People’s Republic. But will that vision make China hostile to the very ideas that fueled its economic transformation in the first place?
Watch the upcoming episode of GZERO World with Ian Bremmer on US public television (check local listings) and at gzeromedia.com/gzeroworld.
Biden holds a microchip to discuss the strategic importance of semiconductors.
US chokes off investment in Chinese tech sectors
In a move that deepens the breach between the world’s two largest economies, the Biden administration this week authorized the Treasury Department to prohibit US firms from investing in several cutting-edge technology industries in China.
The order aims to stop American capital from financing Chinese research into quantum computing and advanced semiconductors and places fresh restrictions on investment in Chinese AI or other semiconductor technology industries.
Amid a deepening rivalry with China to achieve mastery over these technologies, Washington has framed the latest measure as a way to protect US national security.
One big question is: Will US allies do the same thing? Powerful as the US is, a strategy to crimp Beijing’s technological progress doesn’t work half as well if China can look elsewhere for high
quality investment.
It looks like things are moving that way. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Thursday he was considering a similar move, and the EU has been mulling measures of this kind since at least April when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested measures to curb European private sector investment in “sensitive technologies” in China.
And recall that after the US banned its companies from exporting sensitive technology to the Chinese semiconductor industry last year, both Japan and the Netherlands — major suppliers to China — quickly followed suit.
Is “decoupling” of this kind a good idea? If the US and EU are worried about China making critical breakthroughs then it makes sense not to help China do that. On the other hand, critics say that cutting the industries off from each other makes it harder for each side to monitor the other’s progress and to collaborate on guardrails for potentially destructive new technologies.
Tell us what you think. Is “decoupling” smart or shortsighted?
An improvised gate blocks the way leading to a Cuban military base near Bejucal.
Chinese troops in ... Cuba?
What's China up to in Cuba these days? First, setting up an electronic spy base. Now, it's reportedly planning to build a military training facility on the island.
That's right — America's No. 1 geopolitical rival could potentially deploy its troops just 100 miles off the coast of Florida.
If you're the US, that's too close for comfort. More troubling geopolitically, China's plans in Cuba seem to be part of "Project 141," an ambitious strategy by the People's Liberation Army to vastly expand China's global military footprint that includes a base in Djibouti and naval outposts in Cambodia and the UAE.
But if you're China, flexing your military muscles in Cuba is an adequate response to the US Navy's presence in the disputed South China Sea or near Taiwan, which is also about 100 miles from mainland China. And the US can hardly complain about a Chinese military presence on its doorstep when it has more than 350,000 troops stationed within striking distance of Beijing.
Throwback: In 1962, the Soviets got caught red-handed deploying nuclear missiles in Cuba. Yet, more than six decades later, the Chinese don't seem to be trying too hard to conceal their activities on the island from US intelligence. However inaccurate, the Cold War narrative is becoming harder to dispute.