The Chinese ideas of rewriting the international security rules are seem likely to be thwarted as the premiere intelligence agencies in the UK and USA have started acting against it.
Citing a report from the Associated Press in London, the Global Strat View quoted Jeremy Fleming, director, Government Communication Headquarters of Great Britain, as saying, “When it comes to technology, the politically motivated actions of the Chinese state are an increasingly urgent problem we must acknowledge and address.”
“Beijing is changing the definition of national security into a much broader concept. Technology has become not just an area for opportunity, competition, and for collaboration. It has become a battleground for control, for values, and for influence,” he said.
Fleming called on the democratic countries to develop alternatives so that the developing countries can prevent themselves from mortgaging their future by buying the Chinese vision for technology. He drew attention to the potential weakness of the democratic world over semiconductors and said that the democracies could not fall behind.
He also called on Western firms and researchers to toughen the ways to protect intellectual property.
He said that Taiwan was the world leader in producing semiconductors. But, the offensive actions by Beijing in the Taiwan Straits can disrupt the vital supply chain and impact the future growth potential of the world.
He further went on to warn that China aims to fragment the internet’s infrastructure to exert greater control. It is seeking to snoop on users’ transactions using digital currencies to avoid future international sanctions. The BeiDou satellite system of China can act as an alternative to the widely used GPS navigation technology. It could be containing a powerful anti-satellite capability and deny other nations access to space in the event of a conflict.
Global Strat View further reported that in 2021, the head of British overseas intelligence agency M16 Richard Moore had called China “one of the biggest threats to Britain and its allies.”
In 2020, the Chinese tech firm Huawei was banned by the then British Prime Minister Boris Johnson citing a security risks. Johnson had asked it to be stripped out of the 5G telecom network of the UK by 2027.
In 2021, the head of British overseas intelligence agency M16 Richard Moore called China “one of the biggest threats to Britain and its allies.”
Global Strat View further cited a senior fellow at the Washington-based think-tank MartijnRasser, who was quoted in FoxBusiness.com.
“By gaining control over Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, China would control the global market. They would have access to the most advanced manufacturing capabilities, which is even more valuable than controlling the world’s oil.”
Taiwan is the largest and the most sophisticated microchip maker in the world and these chips power the cars, phones, and computers of the world. A shortage of chips globally at the time of the pandemic led affected the sales of Apple, Samsung, and Caterpillar.
Recently, seven Chinese companies were blacklisted by the White House, to keep the largest chipmaker in the world, the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), from selling advanced microchips to China. The officials talked about the fear of chips being used as advanced weapons.
Global Strat View further cited a report by Global Times that US’s move to blacklist seven Chinese companies clearly hit Beijing where it hurts.
“The US government has been exerting pressure on Asian countries and regions, especially China’s Taiwan region, to hobble the Chinese mainland’s chip industries. The US is eyeing the Taiwan islands as a ‘sally port’ to meet its ends and some Taiwan politicians have shown an inclination to comply with US orders under the latter’s pressure,” the report said.
The controls imposed by the Biden administration including the ban on shipments to China from anywhere around the world containing certain semiconductor chips threaten to wreak havoc in the highly globalized chip supply chain
“On the surface, the US wants to protect the security of the semiconductor supply chain by revitalizing local semiconductor manufacturing and preventing the rise of the mainland. But its policy measures are nothing more than undermining the stability of global semiconductor supply chains,” the report added.
Global Strat View further cited the article quoting an associate professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies under Tsinghua University in Beijing.
He claimed that the global chip industry chain may abandon integration and return to a fragmented structure in future.
However, TSMC chairman Mark Liu told CNN that nobody can control TSMC by force and if China invades, they will find they have taken over nothing.
“If China invaded Taiwan, there would be no winners. The extreme sophistication of the plants of TSMC requires a real-time connection with partners worldwide in matters ranging from raw materials and chemicals to spare parts and software. China accounts for 10 percent of the revenue of TSMC, and an interruption in the operations of TSMC would ‘create great economic turmoil’ in China, where suddenly their most advanced components would disappear. With the emphasis of the economy of Taiwan on global collaboration, trust, and openness, the Chinese will never be able to take over the Taiwanese economy,” Global Strat View quoted Liu as telling CNN.