Thoughts?
Is this imperialism by China, a country which is supposed to be left-wing? Leftists are normally anti-imperialism. Wouldn’t it be better to let Taiwan democratically decide whether they want to be part of China or not?
Thoughts?
Is this imperialism by China, a country which is supposed to be left-wing? Leftists are normally anti-imperialism. Wouldn’t it be better to let Taiwan democratically decide whether they want to be part of China or not?
Frankly, a part of me suspects that whole AI RAM and SSD hoarding rush into “data centers” that aren’t even plugged to a power plant is a manufactured market push to begin hoarding electronic components before China invades Taiwan. I suspect a lot of oligarchs would be less willing to feed the AI bubble if they didn’t have a post-Taiwan invasion world to compensate their investments if it doesn’t work out. You think there’s scarcity now, just wait until the invasion happens. China invading Taiwan is going to make China lose a lot of support, one has to wonder what they think they will get out of it.
Taiwan would not have such a big target on its back if it weren’t for TSMC. TSMC should have diversified throughout the world yesterday, but because of wealth and power, Taiwan has to pay the price. The politics and arguments are gaslighting; China isn’t interested in Taiwan, they are interested in controlling the market necessary for even basic modern warfare - advanced microchips. I don’t know if its due to the greed that they are blind to it or perhaps they are perfectly aware of it, but attacking Taiwan will be treated as an attack against the world by many countries. It will provoke a reaction several times worse than what Russia attacking Ukraine did. By driving down their viability as a trading partner, they will make a lot of countries consider other options that are way outside of the contemporary political landscape today.
TSMC was developed by a Taiwanese citizen to be a “silicon shield” - it’s too valuable for other countries to risk a war.
It’s why trump was trying to cajole TSMC to move 50% production to the US and they were like “nah”
It became an opportunity, and US investors and interests needed to project power around the globe and a means to tie power around the region. It has its days numbered because China is slowly becoming a more capable competitor, but China’s obsession in invading it will not only it but will work towards the interests of other geopolitical powers in and outside the region.
What you claim has also gone the way of USAID when Trump came in: https://pr.tsmc.com/english/news/3210 It was a soft power technique that put US interests ahead through mutual interests, but Trump doesn’t believe in mutual interests, just winners and losers like most despots.
It’s the other way round. Taiwan is needed for airfields and to deny deep sea submarine bases to China. The US let Taiwan have the monopoly on advanced semiconductors to have the world defend Taiwan against China.
That’s not “the other way around”, that’s just why it got to where it is.