America v china trade war

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Apple treads a fine line in China. It’s share of the world’s largest smartphone market has dropped to 10% as it has lost ground to local rivals , it has been forced by the U.S. trade war into exploring options for shifting manufacturing away from its primary base, and when an iOS hack was traced to China’s suppression of its Uighur minority, Apple infamously neglected to reference China in its statements, choosing instead to attack Google for inaccuracies in its reporting. This game of geopolitical Twister was evident again in recent days, after Apple faced heavy criticism for blocking HKMap Live , an iPhone app designed to help Hong Kong’s citizens track the locations of protests and police activity, with the intent, so said its developer, of helping people avoid trouble spots and stay safe. The reason for the rejection was that the app “facilitates, enables, and encourages an activity that is not legal,” … [Read more...] about Apple Prompts Furious Backlash After Failing To Get It Right In China—Again

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Apple’s complex and high-risk relationship with the Chinese government took another twist this week, with the company enraging China’s state media into publishing an article on October 9, slamming the U.S. tech giant for its approval of an app that has been “allowing the rioters in Hong Kong to go on violent acts.” The criticism surrounds an app called HKMap Live , which claims to help Hong Kong’s citizens track the locations of protests and police activity, with the intent, it says, of helping people avoid trouble spots and stay safe. The app was originally rejected by Apple and refused entry into the App Store. That unleashed a wave of protests that eventually saw the decision overturned and the app allowed into the store. “Nobody wants to drag Apple into the lingering unrest in Hong Kong,” the People’s Daily warns, “but people have reason to assume that Apple is mixing business with politics, and even … [Read more...] about Apple Is ‘Reckless’ And Will Face ‘Consequences’—Warns China

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Apple is under fire for relenting to pressure from the Chinese government and removing a controversial app that the authorities in Hong Kong claim is being used by protesters to track the movements of the police. The issue for Apple is that this came within a day of Chinese state media threatening the U.S. firm with “consequences” for its “reckless” decision to allow HKMap Live into its App Store. This situation has been a PR nightmare for Apple. HKMap Live was originally submitted to the App Store on September 21, rejected on September 26, resubmitted on October 2, rejected again the same day. Then it was approved on October 5 and rejected again on October 9, after those threats. Dizzying. The threats had come in the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. “Nobody wants to drag Apple into the lingering unrest in Hong Kong,” it warned, “but people have reason to assume that Apple is … [Read more...] about China Threats Force Apple Retreat

US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (left) with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. (Image: AP) As tension rises in the Taiwan Strait following China’s threatening live-fire drills in the wake of Nancy Pelosi’s visit, a tussle between Taiwan and the mainland to influence the world through Mandarin learning centres has come back in focus. Mandarin is spoken widely on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. But as Sino-American relations became strained over trade and technology in the past few years, Washington made a conscious effort to curb Chinese cultural activities in the United States and encouraged Taiwan to fill that space, especially for learning Mandarin. Under Donald Trump’s presidency, the US Congress in 2018 passed a bill to cut funding for Chinese language and culture programmes offered by Confucius institutes at universities that host them. The US State Department labelled the institutes `foreign missions’ of the People’s Republic of China, and part … [Read more...] about China, Taipei battle over projecting soft-power through Mandarin

The Royal Thai Air Force yesterday reported it will resume a fighter jets exercise with China this weekend. The Falcon Strike exercise between Thailand and China was an annual event until it was postponed in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The drill has taken place four times since 2015 and takes flight once again on Sunday, August 14. It will run for 11 days at a military base in northeastern Udon Thani. To conspiracy theorists, it may appear to be a somewhat belligerent or symbolic act that Thailand and China are using the Udon Thani base, as it was used by US forces during the Vietnam War. The Chinese, of course, backed the North Vietnamese Communists in the Vietnam War while the US supported South Vietnam. But the Falcon Strike exercise certainly could be viewed as politically insensitive, given it comes only a week after China embarked on a series of military exercises around the Taiwan Strait. It is believed China was flexing its military muscle following US House … [Read more...] about Thailand & China fighter jets take off on Falcon Strike drills

US President Joe Biden US President Joe Biden is preparing to sign a USD 280 billion bipartisan bill to boost domestic high-tech manufacturing, part of his administration's push to boost US competitiveness over China. The Rose Garden ceremony on Tuesday will include lawmakers, union officials, local politicians and business leaders, the White House said, as the president looks to highlight a new law that will incentivise investments in the American semiconductor industry in an effort to ease US reliance on overseas supply chains for critical, cutting-edge goods. We are going to invest it in America, Biden said on Friday. We're going to make it in America. We're going to win the economic competition of the 21st century in America. The White House said Micron is announcing a USD 40 billion plan to boost domestic manufacturing of memory chips, and Qualcomm and GlobalFoundries are announcing a USD 4.2 billion expansion of an upstate New York chip plant. … [Read more...] about Biden to sign USD 280 billion chips act in bid to boost US over China

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Apple has found itself in a PR nightmare in recent days, with the tech giant’s troubled relationship with China thrust into an unwelcoming media spotlight. What began as a little trouble in big China—the withdrawal of an app that let Hong Kong’s citizens track protest trouble spots, has become a fiery geopolitical debate over Apple’s loyalties and whether it puts profits before politics, reality before reputation. This started with an app—but it has now pushed Apple’s track record of acquiescence to Beijing into the media. It has also exposed a leaning towards continuing self-censorship on Apple’s part that has even embroiled the company’s new flagship TV streaming service. Never before has Apple’s China problem presented such a challenge to the wider business, with such potential for lasting reputational damage. The game of yoyo HKMap Live played with Apple’s App Store is well documented. The app crowdsources Hong Kong … [Read more...] about Apple’s China Nightmare Just Got Even Worse

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Already under fire for security lapses and facing scrutiny over its links to China, Zoom made the startling decision earlier this month to ban three users organizing memorials to mark the Tiananmen Square massacre at the request of Beijing. It’s now reversed the decision, according to a company post released late Thursday. But it’s still going to help China block accounts of users in the country. Though the tech giant neglected to use the words “Tiananmen Square” in its post, it acknowledged that the Chinese government had been in touch earlier this year to warn about four Zoom-hosted commemorations of the famous pro-democracy protests in 1989. China wanted the groups and the administrators banned. Astonishingly, Zoom chose to monitor the metadata for the calls from the U.S. so it could tell if anyone from mainland China was participating. And when it discovered that people from mainland China were joining three of the … [Read more...] about Zoom Promises To Do Better After Banning Tiananmen Square Protests—Then Builds Tech To Help China’s Censorship

Amber Wang (Agence France-Presse) (The Jakarta Post) PREMIUM Fenggang Township   ● Wed, August 10 2022 Taiwan held an artillery drill on Tuesday simulating defense against an attack as its top diplomat accused Beijing of preparing to invade the island after days of massive Chinese war games. China launched its largest-ever air and sea exercises around Taiwan last week in a furious response to a visit by United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking American official to visit the self-ruled island in decades. Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views its neighbor as part of Chinese territory to be seized one day, by force if necessary. to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,500/month Unlimited access to our web and app content e-Post daily digital newspaper No advertisements, no interruptions Privileged access to our events and programs Subscription to our newsletters We accept … [Read more...] about Taiwan accuses China of preparing invasion, holds defense drill

Supporters await a convoy carrying US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi outside the Grand Hyatt hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, on Tuesday, Aug 2, 2022. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan on Aug 2 evening, in defiance of Chinese threats, a trip that would make her the highest-ranking American politician to visit the island in 25 years. - A + A (Aug 9): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s swing through Asia aimed to convey the US’s “strong and unshakable” support for the region. It ended up leaving many countries in stunned silence, as China conducted unprecedented military drills around Taiwan. The shockwaves from the highest-level US visit to Taiwan in a quarter century are still reverberating around the region days after she flew back to Washington. China’s military has extended exercises designed to show an ability to encircle the island and cut off the Taiwan Strait, one of the world’s busiest trade routes, days after launching missiles that likely flew over Taipei … [Read more...] about Pelosi trip hinders Biden effort to galvanize Asia against China