General News Regarding China & Hong Kong

[Comrade Ceasefire]

Taiwan Quake Puts World’s Most Advanced Chips at Risk

Why is that important for tech?
Taiwan is the leading producer of the most advanced semiconductors in the world, including the processors at the heart of the latest iPhones and the Nvidia graphics chips that train AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. TSMC has become the tech linchpin because it’s the most advanced in producing complex chips. Taiwan is the source of an estimated 80% to 90% of the highest-end chips — there is effectively no substitute. Jan-Peter Kleinhans, director of the technology and geopolitics project at Berlin-based think tank Stiftung Neue Verantwortung, has called Taiwan “potentially the most critical single point of failure” in the semiconductor industry.

What are the implications for AI?
Artificial intelligence is the hottest sector in tech at the moment, and leaders from OpenAI’s Sam Altman to Nvidia’s Jensen Huang have warned about shortages in the chips needed for training new AI services. All of Nvidia’s AI orders now go to TSMC so even brief disruptions to the company’s high-end output is likely to have repercussions. A lot will depend on which plants the company has evacuated and how quickly it can resume normal operations. Any impact on Taiwan’s logistics and power infrastructure would also affect deliveries of the latest chips. TSMC and other chipmakers have not yet detailed what the quake’s impact will be.

MSN

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

Hong Kong makes largest-ever gold smuggling bust
Hong Kong authorities have made the city's largest ever gold smuggling bust, seizing 146kg of the precious metal disguised as machine parts.

The haul is estimated to be worth more than $10m (£8m) and was intercepted last month on route to Japan.

A 31-year-old man has been arrested and released on bail pending further investigations.

Smuggling is a serious offence and carries up to seven years in jail under Hong Kong law.

Customs officials say they made the discovery while examining two air compressors - departing in a cargo shipment to Japan on 27 March - which drew suspicions due to their unusual texture and weight.

An examination ultimately found both were riddled with gold that had been "moulded and camouflaged" into parts such as gears, screws, and motor cores, according to a government statement on Monday.

Authorities have suggested a crime syndicate looking to evade taxes in Japan may have been behind the operation.

Hong Kong is one of the world's largest gold trading hubs and prices of the commodity have been rising amid geopolitical uncertainty.

Hong Kong makes largest-ever gold smuggling bust

Authorities seized 146kg of the precious metal, which was headed for Japan disguised as machine parts.

www.bbc.com

 

[thetrooper]

Blinken hints at Chinese meddling in the US election.

 

[amadeus]

Vice President Gore just thought he was having a leisurely stroll through that temple, I tells ya! How was he supposed to know they were going to hold an impromptu fundraiser?

Spoiler :

I know, I’m going way back in the archives for this reference. I had to throw out all my OJ material, so I’m kind of down to my “B” stuff.

 

[Birdjaguar]

China’s newest aircraft carrier heads to sea for first time​

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www.cnn.com

 

[Birdjaguar]

Xi shakes up China’s military in rethink of how to ‘fight and win’ future wars​

Hong KongCNN —
China has rolled out the largest restructuring of its military in almost a decade, focusing on technology-driven strategic forces equipped for modern warfare, as Beijing vies with Washington for military primacy in a region rife with geopolitical tensions.

In a surprise move last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping scrapped the Strategic Support Force (SSF), a military branch he created in 2015 to integrate the People’s Liberation Army’s space, cyber, electronic and psychological warfare capabilities as part of a sweeping overhaul of the armed forces. In its place, Xi inaugurated the Information Support Force, which he said was “a brand-new strategic arm of the PLA and a key underpinning of coordinated development and application of the network information system.”

The new force would play an important role in helping the Chinese military “fight and win in modern warfare,” he said at a ceremony last Friday.

At a news conference on the same day, a spokesperson for China’s Defense Ministry appeared to suggest the SSF was effectively broken into three units – the Information Support Force, the Aerospace Force and the Cyberspace Force – which will answer directly to the Central Military Commission, the body at the top of the military chain of command headed by Xi. Under the new structure, the PLA now consists of four services – the army, navy, air force and the rocket force – plus four arms: the three units spun off from the SSF and the Joint Logistic Support Force, according to ministry spokesperson Wu Qian.

More here:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/27/china/china-xi-military-restructuring-information-support-force-intl-hnk/index.html

 

[Crezth]

Rather pointless when America's military is already max power, so it won't be necessary to pay attention to anything China's doing. If I had to guess, I'd say their explosives technology for example is probably around 35 years behind the US.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Interesting article about an increase in isolation in HK, Japan and Korea. Great use of graphics. CNN is copying both the NYT and WaPo in that respect.

The hikikomori in Asia who withdraw from society: A life within four walls.

Many young people across Asia are cutting themselves off from society, locking themselves at home for months or years. Here’s why.

www.cnn.com

 

[Crezth]

They just need to get some exercise.

 

[Farm Boy]

Heheh.

 

[Birdjaguar]

They just need to get some exercise.

I agree, years without it would be pretty bad.

 

[Moriarte]

Interesting article about an increase in isolation in HK, Japan and Korea.

Just looking at the neighbourhoods some of these people live in is enough to kickstart depression. I've been to HK. 50+ story high skyscrapers (thousands of those skyscrapers) filled with 30 sq.m apartments. Straight out of a Blade Runner movie. Out of control human ambition. With total disregard for economics and sanity of it all - perhaps there's something else to it, but that was my outsider impression.

 

[Joij21]

It's already happening in the West too. There are many people just refusing to work, so yeah.

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

Rather pointless when America's military is already max power, so it won't be necessary to pay attention to anything China's doing. If I had to guess, I'd say their explosives technology for example is probably around 35 years behind the US.

China must urgently change its strategy now that America has officially recognized the independence of the kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu.

 

[Kaushad]

Just looking at the neighbourhoods some of these people live in is enough to kickstart depression. I've been to HK. 50+ story high skyscrapers (thousands of those skyscrapers) filled with 30 sq.m apartments. Straight out of a Blade Runner movie. Out of control human ambition. With total disregard for economics and sanity of it all - perhaps there's something else to it, but that was my outsider impression.

I wish we had more of those. It sounds much easier to meet people and commute in such dense neighbourhoods. Provided they're sound proofed. And I'm happy with my country's 35 sqm minimum. Still, it has to be better than life in random house shares.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

China’s newest aircraft carrier heads to sea for first time​

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www.cnn.com

I forgot the news article from many years ago. Basic idea is that some USA generals thinks China has a long coastline and needs at least six or so aircraft carriers for a basic level of self-defense, and publicly encourages China to get on with it.

Not relevant, except that aircraft carriers are not the source of US-China frictions.

 

[Birdjaguar]

China can certainly protect its coast with land based defenses and more local shore based ships. Carriers are most appropriate for blue water action and to project power in distant places. China doesn't seem to want to play that game. I think they are building carriers to appear as powerful as the US is in projecting power. I do not see China sending its carrier fleets into hot spots around the world to announce "we are here, so look out!"

 

[Comrade Ceasefire]

China panicked when they saw what the UK are putting on their carriers!
U.K. Considering Adding Catapults, Arresting Gear to Aircraft Carriers

U.K. Considering Adding Catapults, Arresting Gear to Aircraft Carriers - USNI News

The U.K. Royal Navy is studying the introduction of aircraft launch and recovery systems onboard its two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers to “open up” the flight deck to a broader range of crewed and uncrewed air systems. Speaking at the Defence Leaders’ Combined Naval Event 2023...

news.usni.org

The UK was this >< close to liberating Hong Kong in their dreams.
UK raises pressure on China with carrier deployment to Asia
November 21, 2020.
Other British officials have raised the possibility of sending a carrier to the Asia-Pacific, though this is the first time Johnson explicitly commented on the idea. The move likely is intended to send a message to China, whose increasing political crackdown on Hong Kong has led to diplomatic tensions with the U.K.

UK raises pressure on China with carrier deployment to Asia

Boris Johnson touts new space and cyber forces as security priorities shift

asia.nikkei.com

 

[Birdjaguar]

The UK was this >< close to liberating Hong Kong in their dreams.
UK raises pressure on China with carrier deployment to Asia
November 21, 2020.
Other British officials have raised the possibility of sending a carrier to the Asia-Pacific, though this is the first time Johnson explicitly commented on the idea. The move likely is intended to send a message to China, whose increasing political crackdown on Hong Kong has led to diplomatic tensions with the U.K.

Once you have "ruled the world", it is hard to not to want to play such a part once again. China has never done so and has even struggled to keep itself whole from time to time. I do not see them sending carrier task forces to the Mediterranean, the Baltic, or even Africa as a way to say "We rules the waves!" That is an American thing.

 

[Samson]

China can certainly protect its coast with land based defenses and more local shore based ships. Carriers are most appropriate for blue water action and to project power in distant places. China doesn't seem to want to play that game. I think they are building carriers to appear as powerful as the US is in projecting power. I do not see China sending its carrier fleets into hot spots around the world to announce "we are here, so look out!"

There is a lot of the Pacific that is outside of land based operations from China but still vitally important strategically to them. Carriers seem really useful there, or would be in civ anyway .

Once you have "ruled the world", it is hard to not to want to play such a part once again.

It is not that hard.