The Silicon chip rules US-China diplomacy

[old man emu]

Today I Learned that Taiwan is the leading producer of silicon chips, producing around 90% of the world's most advanced semiconductor chips, and is a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the cornerstone of Taiwan's "silicon shield," the idea that the world's reliance on Taiwan's microchips protects it from invasion by China.

 

Without those advanced chips which China buys from Taiwan, there would be no mobile phones, tablets etc. The design of the chips is carried out by US companies such as Apple. That is why the US maintains naval forces close to Taiwan in order to protect its intellectual property as well as the manufacturing facilities for the chips. China knows that if it tried to invade Taiwan, it would result firstly in the drying up of the supply of chips it need to manufacture whatever nowadays needs a chip, and then military action against the US. China is too smart to make that mistake.

 

However, moves are afoot to establish silicon chip manufacturing in Arizona by about 2030. If that happens, then the US will no longer have such a great interest in keeping China away from Taiwan. It definitely wouldn't go into an all out war with China if China moved to absorb Taiwan.

 

Taiwan has a history of colonisation very similar to Australia's.  The original Taiwanese were like our Aborigines. Then in the mid-1600s Ming survivors of the invasion of the Manchu people fled to Taiwan. That's where the Chinese part of the culture came from. The Manchus established the Qing dynasty, ruling from 1644 C.E. to 1911/12. The Qing dynasty surrendered the island to Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894 – 17 April 1895). Japan held it until 1945 and during that time modernised it. Then in 1949 it became a refuge for the Nationalist Chinese under Chiang Kai-shek fleeing the Chinese Communists. Now the Chinese Communists claim that it is a rogue Chinese province, despite its having been ceded to Japan in 1985, and declaring itself independent for a few weeks after WWII.

 

A recent publication, Rebel Island, the incredible history of Taiwan by Jonathan Clements ISBN (13):9781915590275 ha recently been published and goes into the history of Taiwan from prehistoric times to the present.