2y ago

Key Taiwan Tech Firms Are Helping Huawei With China Chip Plants

www.bloomberg.com Key Taiwan Tech Firms Are Helping Huawei With China Chip Plants

Several Taiwanese technology companies are helping Huawei Technologies Co. build infrastructure for an under-the-radar network of chip plants across southern China, an unusual collaboration that risks inflaming sentiment on a democratic island grappling with Beijing’s growing belligerence.

Full article: https://imgur.com/a/SwMitsV

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This is a straight-up national security issue for Taiwan. Its chip factories are an integral part of its defence strategy and it needs to be able to use them as leverage to survive.
- In which case Taiwan Province should refuse American demands to build chip factories in the US. If Taiwan's strategic value comes from microchips then the US not having it's own domestic supply prevents the US from walking away.
  On the other hand, reunification has been a core interest for China since long before microchips were even a thing. You could Thanos snap all the chip foundries away tomorrow and the Chinese interest in reunification would not substantially diminish.
  
  Taiwan's (the Republic of China's) alliance with the United States and general defence strategy has a few key factors:
  Taiwan is counting on maintaining a key role in the United States' high-tech economy. One where, if the island of Taiwan were to fall under the control of the mainland, American economic interests would be severely damaged. The existence of semiconductor factories in America doesn't affect this calculus too much as long as a critical mass of manufacturing stays in Taiwan. In fact, tying Taiwan's economy to the United States is beneficial because it means the pain of separating it will be greater, and hopefully the fear of such pain will make the Americans want to protect them.
  Taiwan believes that its location is of strategic importance to the United States' South Asian military interests. If the island falls under mainland control, it would mean that the US military can no longer access the large amount of airspace surrounding the island and would lose access to the island's naval facilities.
  Taiwan thinks that it can make a war with the mainland so costly for the latter that it would not make economic sense to invade. This is unrelated to the US; ideology takes a backseat to making money almost anywhere in the world and the Taiwanese know this.
  Taiwan thinks it can rely on popular and government support in America to defend it in the event of an invasion. Public support for Taiwan's continued autonomous existence is quite high in the US and even Joe Biden's sometimes erratic comments about the topic are enough to make leaders in Beijing think twice before invading. The Americans are unpredictable and they don't want to leave it up to a roll of the dice.
  
  Taiwan is counting on maintaining a key role in the United States' high-tech economy. One where, if the island of Taiwan were to fall under the control of the mainland, American economic interests would be severely damaged. The existence of semiconductor factories in America doesn't affect this calculus too much as long as a critical mass of manufacturing stays in Taiwan. In fact, tying Taiwan's economy to the United States is beneficial because it means the pain of separating it will be greater, and hopefully the fear of such pain will make the Americans want to protect them.
  Exactly my point. The interest of Taiwan Province is to have the critical mass of such manufacturing stay in the RoC, whereas the interest of the US is to have the critical mass of such manufacturing move to the US. Given these divergent strategic interests, it is the best interest of the RoC to sell chips to the US instead of allowing the US to make its own chips. The US doesn't have a supply alternative to TSMC yet, so exporting RoC tech and factories to the US is weakening the RoC position and creating their own competitor (assuming the US doesn't fuck up its own factories).
  
  I would like to remind you that there does not exist any political entity called "Taiwan Province". The Republic of China abolished its provincial governments and the People's Republic of China doesn't even bother to maintain a shadow government.
  
  I refer you to ISO 3166-2:TW where the territory in question is designated "Taiwan, Province of China" or "Taiwan (Province of China)". I do take the liberty of shortening out the "of China" but I am happy to refer to the territory by its full name if you will agree to do the same.
  If you have any issues with the designation, I encourage you to take it up with the International Standards Organization.
  
  I will cut to the chase here and say that the only reason for calling it "Taiwan Province" is if you are (1) a Chinese nationalist, (2) a Chinese propagandist, or (3) a person who got absorbed by (2). Nobody else in ordinary English discourse will refer to it as such. The typical usage is to call the Republic of China "Taiwan". Its government calls itself the "Republic of China (Taiwan)". Normal people call it "Taiwan". Taiwanese people call it "Taiwan". Don't forget; the "free area" of the Republic of China has two nominal provinces—Taiwan and Fuchien.
  ISO standards are dry and mechanical, and most importantly, not designed to supplant everyday usage by humans. That is unless you also tend to write the date as 2023-10-03 and not the far more common "3 October 2023" or "October 3, 2023". The ISO standard refers to Taiwan Province, which is a province of the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China, however, neither province has a government and neither makes decisions on its own.
  The common name for the area controlled by the Republic of China is "Taiwan". "Taiwan Province" is a Chinese nationalist dog whistle and there is nothing you can say to get around this fact.
  
  I will cut to the chase here and say that the only reason for not calling it "Taiwan Province" is if you are (1) an American Imperialist, (2) a Japanese Imperialist, or (3) a running dog of one or both types of imperialist.
  It doesn't matter to me what "normal people" call Taiwan Province because the vast majority of what you consider normal people are completely ignorant of the topic, the history, and the legal political situation.
  You don't get a say in what terminology I choose to use. Your insistence on prescribing what exact terminology I can and cannot use dances on the border of pointless liberal semantic nitpicking and petty fascist power play.
  No amount of semantic maneuvering on your part will change the fact that Taiwan, Province of China is recognized by international law and the vast majority of the countries of the world as being a part of China. No amount of quibbling over words or pidgeom holing me into your imaginary categories will change the fact that the vast majority of countries and international law recognizes the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate governmemt of China.
  
  I hope you realise that countries recognise the People's Republic of China because it's politically expedient. It's lip service since the PRC government is easily offended. So for many countries, it's easier to just play along, shut up, and let's get to negotiating some lucrative trade deals instead. Public support among Western nations and their allies for Taiwan's continued autonomous existence remains high despite their governments recognising it as a province of China. You don't seem to understand how useful doublespeak is in international geopolitics. To pretend countries say what they mean and mean what they say is incredibly naïve.
  Your behaviour is exactly why I filtered out Hexbear in my feed. There don't seem to be any actual socialists on Hexbear, just people knee-jerkingly defending any country that claims to be socialist without any regard to whether they practice what they preach. Social democracies like the Nordic countries are way closer to socialism than modern China is, but all you have to do is point your finger and say "liberal" and Hexbear users start foaming at the mouth. I say this as a citizen of the People's Republic of China and a socialist.
  This conversation has reached its productive end.
  
  the nordic countries got a labor aristocracy of social fascism that was only allowed to exist due to proximity to the USSR and therefore a need to not appear obviously inferior in the eyes of the proletariat. since the USSR was illegally dissolved undemocratically against the will of its citizens the nordic countries have been dissolving their social democracies and will continue to do so in response to the tendency of the rate of profit to fall.
  
  Socialism:
  
  This is a tragedy of history. That is all I will say on the matter.
  
  I hope you realise that countries recognise the People's Republic of China because it's politically expedient. It's lip service since the PRC government is easily offended. So for many countries, it's easier to just play along, shut up, and let's get to negotiating some lucrative trade deals instead. Public support among Western nations and their allies for Taiwan's continued autonomous existence remains high despite their governments recognising it as a province of China. You don't seem to understand how useful doublespeak is in international geopolitics. To pretend countries say what they mean and mean what they say is incredibly naïve.
  No, I understand perfectly well that the West is a fork tongued Empire of Lies. If you understood history at all, you'd know that the recognition of the PRC as the legitimate government of China was a movement that started in the newly decolonized countries of the global south due to Mao's principled anti-imperialist stance back when there wasn't much lucrative trade to be had at all.
  Support for Taiwan among the Western public is irrelevant to the situation and driven by a profound historical ignorance, much like all of your argumentative flailing.
  
  Public support among Western nations and their allies for Taiwan's continued autonomous existence remains high despite their governments recognising it as a province of China. You don't seem to understand how useful doublespeak is in international geopolitics. To pretend countries say what they mean and mean what they say is incredibly naïve.
  The vast majority of the world isn't part of the West. And they by and large do not pretend Taiwan is a country. Why do you think the vast majority of African countries do not even bother with a totally-not-an-embassy building for Taiwan? Who cares if a bunch of Swedes, Belgians, and Brits continue to pretend Taiwan is a country while their respective governments still pay homage to the PRC anyways? I don't know if you follow the news, but the West is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
  
  Countries recognize the PRC because it's politically expedient... And not because they're currently the dominant economy not only in Eastern Asia but in the entire Eurasian continent? Not because, for the period under contention, they were literally governing over the largest single population in the world? What the fuck are you smoking?
  By any definition, the PRC deserves recognition internationally.
  
  Taiwan thinks that it can make a war with the mainland so costly for the latter that it would not make economic sense to invade. This is unrelated to the US; ideology takes a backseat to making money almost anywhere in the world and the Taiwanese know this.
  My dude, the entire ROC military is completely controlled by the KMT. Yeah, a military that's institutionally controlled by the status quo party is going to fight to the last man while Tsai Ing-wen and William Lai take the first flight to Japan. The government might have transitioned away from a KMT military dictatorship during the 90s, but the actual military hasn't moved away from its KMT military dictatorship roots, especially the top brass. Taiwanese separatists have a reputation for dodging conscription, so in the end, you have a top brass that's still nostalgic about the Chiang Ching-kuo days and a bunch of enlisted and conscripted soldiers who don't care a whole lot about Taiwanese separatism. There's a reason why the DPP has continuously and successfully run on "the KMT will sell out Taiwan to the CPC" in order to win seats, most recently in the 2020 Taiwanese presidential election.
  There's a decent chance there won't be an invasion anyways because the KMT cut a backroom deal with the CPC.
- Except... It's really not? Taiwan's chip factories are simply leverage to drag the West into any potential conflict between the PRC and ROC. Taiwan's defence strategy involves being an island in the ocean built up of mountains, jungle, and cities (all terrain where the defender is extremely favoured), mandatory military service for citizens, and being so economically/culturally tied to the mainland that it's infeasible to break off relations. Taiwan is basically seeking reunification without explicitly seeking reunification: their core defensive strategy relies on being as close to China as possible while being too painful to actually invade.
  Of course, this kind of policy didn't help Cuba, but...
  
  I don't understand the comparison to Cuba, do you mind explaining?
  
  Cuba ended up getting blockaded because they were too hard to invade lol
  Sorry, "quarantined"
  Because a blockade would be a declaration of war

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