While there is a debate over whether the “Silicon Shield” – the idea that Taiwan’s production of 90 percent of the world’s advanced chips acts as a deterrent against China – protects or increases the risk Taiwan faces, Wu Jieh-min (吳介民) from Academia Sinica’s Institute of Sociology said the concept should not be seen as Taiwan centric.
“It is not just about Taiwan’s security, but about global economic stability and security,” he said at the Ketagalan Forum’s economic security panel.
He added that the true power of the “Silicon Shield” does not lie in Taiwan’s semiconductor capabilities but in the catastrophic “global consequences of disruption to the chip supply chain from any conflict over Taiwan or in the region.”
At the same time, China continues to exercise restraint in the Taiwan Strait, keeping its military harassment of Taiwan in the gray zone below the threshold of conflict.
It is tempting to view Beijing’s restraint as evidence of the silicon shield at work.
That would be a mistake. Semiconductors play little, if any role, in the Chinese Communist Party’s thinking around Taiwan. For the party, Taiwan is an emotional issue above all, borne of a deep-seated desire to avenge perceived historical wrongs at the hands of Japan and the United States. The CCP views the ceding by the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) of Taiwan and the Penghu Islands to Japan after China’s defeat in the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) as a national humiliation and the treaty that codified the cession as invalid, while it blames the U.S. for obstructing “reunification” with its military support of Taiwan for the past 73 years.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has emphasized that “national reunification” is the “essence” of national rejuvenation — Xi’s bid to restore China to what he sees as its rightful greatness. Xi speaks more bluntly about Taiwan than his predecessors and has fewer reservations about coercing the island, but his obsession represents continuity more than change.
Tough to decide where to put this, my Chinese Innovation thread was another good choice. So many semiconductor and economy and invasion threads to choose from
Anyways, going back to the argument that nobody can replace Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing, an important first step is the machines and materials that Taiwan is allowed to import and China is not. I don’t find this story surprising at all
Will China be ready to invade with impunity while having domestic production of their own cutting edge chips by 2027? Almost certainly not. Is it totally possible in my lifetime? Possible enough…
The entire planet is trying hard to replace Taiwan on tech manufacturing so they don’t even need to pretend to defend democracy. Over a couple decades, I bet someone will. I hope the elite here are aware of this end game and planning ahead for ethics and Taiwan, not just relocating and profits. Chips here won’t last forever. We are quickly losing our bargaining chips, no pun intended. Sad state of affairs, to be sure. Seems no one [nationality] cares at all about democracy, evolving human rights etc. That’s even more sad.
China is not even maxing out its efforts to catch up. They can’t get enough graduates interested in chips.
There are a few other fields (like AI application) where China leads that are much sexier to them.
Taiwan is loading up on weapons to defend itself , well that is if the KMT doesn’t succeed in blocking it. 3 KMT legislators went to China last week, one of them is the one that controls processes in the legislature.
Taiwan can use it’s powerful economy to invest in defending itself, but voters and legislators need to support it.
Sadly, our nation’s future is usually dependable on the Chinese KMT sabotaging and commiting treason on our great country. It is truly disheartening to watch h them throw their own nation under the bus. The Chinese KMT of today is vastly different from the old one wanting to protect Taiwan and take back China. Now they want to join a foreign country….pretty embarrassing.
Meh, either way they want one China, they just admit now that they lost the civil war
I wish you were right. Secret of the Chinese KMT actually want to be merged with China (PRC). Not merely admitting losing the civil war (Amd wanting to reclaim China aka ROC). This is actually an important distinction. literally the most important distinction.
Listen to Ma and gang about wanting Taiwan (roc) to become China (prc). The betrayal is gross, but is a foreigner so I guess it can be expected.
What??? I thot that was the main point of all the brainwash in the past
Chainarrrr
@the_bear how bout focus some attention here. Even I am triggered 