China

LUOYANG, CHINA- In the photos, staff works to produce the nucleic acid test kit at the Luoyang Ascend Biotechnology Co., Ltd plant in Luoyang, Henan Province in central China, March 4, 2020. To help combat The epidemic of the new coronavirus, the company is in full capacity producing nucleic acid test kits, after the increase of imported coronavirus cases in the country.

China’s role in the global biotechnology sector and implications for US policy

April 2020

May 14, 2019, Tokyo, Japan - Japan's computer giant Fujitsu unveils a 300mm wafer which has the CPU chips with 48-core and 2-assistant core Arm architecture "A64FX" processor at Fujitsu's high-tech exhibition Fujitsu Forum 2019 in Tokyo on Tuesday, May 14, 2019. Fujitsu and Riken are developing the government-backed next generation supercomputer called Post-K computer, 100 times greater performance of K computer. (Photo by Yoshio Tsunoda/AFLO) No Use China. No Use Taiwan. No Use Korea. No Use Japan.

Maintaining China’s dependence on democracies for advanced computer chips

Saif M. Khan and Carrick Flynn

April 2020

--FILE--A local resident uses his smartphone to have the QR code scanned through the mobile app of Tencent's WeChat Payment function to pay his purchases at a shopping mall in Shanghai, China, 26 September 2018.WeChat Pay, one of China's biggest mobile payment platforms, is set to expand its presence in Singapore next month at more than 600 retail outlets. From November 1, Cold Storage, Giant, Guardian and 7-Eleven stores across Singapore will start accepting payments through the Tencent-operated platform. The initiative was announced by Singapore Dairy Farm (the regional parent company of the four brands) and Singaporean mobile payment company NETS, which offers cashless QR payment services at more than 55,000 terminals across the country. Chinese nationals based in Singapore or visiting the country as tourists will be able to scan NETS QR code terminals in the 600 retail outlets with WeChat Pay, with transactions conducted in yuan based on the point-of-sale foreign exchange rate. Dairy Farm and NETS said in their statement that the cooperation with WeChat Pay would help serve the growing number of Chinese tourists visiting Singapore. According to the Singapore Tourism Board, arrivals from China in 2017 were up by 13 percent on the previous year, reaching 3.2 million. While WeChat Pay and its rival, Alibaba's Alipay, have ventured overseas into several countries, the services are only available to Chinese nationals.No Use China. No Use France.

China’s digital payments revolution

April 2020

A view of Zhangbei data center of Alibaba is pictured in Zhangbei county, Zhangjiakou city, north China's Hebei province, 12 September 2016.China's e-commerce giant Alibaba is expanding its cloud facilities vigorously. After announcing a cloud data center in Silicon Valley in the US this March, it has launched a large cloud data center in North China. The Zhangbei cloud data center broke ground in the Miaotan Industrial Park in Zhangbei County, Hebei Province, in April 2015. It is expected to host 80 percent of Alibaba's cloud and big data in North China and to serve as the group's North China settlement center. Currently, cloud only accounts for one percent of Alibaba's total income, but the group has bet its future on cloud. The Zhangbei data center, which covers about 165 acres, will cost 18 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion), according to Haifeng Qu, research fellow in the technical support department of Alibaba.No Use China. No Use France.

Digital competition with China starts with competition at home

April 2020

The 380-metre tall electricity pylon to carry power cables between Zhoushan's Jintang and Cezi islands with a distance of 2,656 metres, which is the tallest power transmission tower in the world, is being capped at the construction site in Cezi islands, Zhoushan city, east China's Zhejiang province, 11 August 2018.Construction on a giant power supply pylon, believed to be the world's tallest, completed in east China's Zhejiang Province, State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Company announced. At an impressive 380 meters tall, the pylon is four times the height of London's Big Ben. The pylon will carry power cables between Zhoushan's Jintang and Cezi islands, a distance of 2,656 meters, It breaks the world record for the tallest power pylon currently held by China's Damaoshan pylon which stands at 370 meters, also in Zhoushan. The new pylon is a part of a new ultra-high voltage power line project between cities of Zhoushan and Ningbo. The project is expected to be put into use in 2019.No Use China. No Use France.

Secure power: Gigawatts, geopolitics, and China’s energy internet

April 2020

I.P. Park, president and chief technical officer for LG Electronics, speaks on artificial intelligence during a keynote address at the 2019 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. January 7, 2019. REUTERS/Steve Marcus

“AI weapons” in China’s military innovation

April 2020

[On China's public diplomacy amid COVID-19 pandemic] Many of the things that China does in terms of public diplomacy are actually counterproductive. Maybe they think that is helpful, but in India, where people are going to resent this Chinese sense of superiority, that actually builds resentment.

Tanvi Madan The Atlantic Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Workers are seen outside a train on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line constructed by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and financed by Chinese government in Kimuka, Kenya October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

China and Africa’s debt: Yes to relief, no to blanket forgiveness

Monday, April 20, 2020

New Taipei city government conducts a drill against community acquired infection of the new coronavirus CIVID-19 in New Taipei city, Taiwan on March 14, 2020. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, showing the evidence 150,000 people infected with the coronavirus illness in over 130 countries and territories around the world on March 14. ( The Yomiuri Shimbun )

After COVID-19, Taiwan will have to navigate a world that will never be the same

Monday, April 20, 2020

The logic of [the Obama Administration to avoid expelling Chinese media was that] it’s pretty difficult to win a race to the bottom with the Chinese.

Ryan Hass New York Times Sunday, April 19, 2020