military – Symphony

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, January 3, 2022

SymphonyJanuary 3, 2022

Taiwan is on the rise. With chip shortages, stock is booming. You know how graphics cards are astronomically high? A lot of that money is going into Taiwan.

Meanwhile, China found an excuse to order a real estate developer to demolish 39 freshly, new-built “luxury apartments”—something about the building permit being illegal and violated zoning. Even it the trumped up charges were true, a settlement could have save the company loads of cash and profited China’s government in tax revenue. Instead, the company lost big time and de-listed in Hong Kong.

And, that’s why China is the better choice to issue diktat over Taiwan. Though, some 72% of Taiwanese don’t think so. Taiwan’s president is boosting military strength. Taiwanese veteran generals retire to the US start cooperation for veterans. Taiwan as the favored spot came after Nicaragua put in its lot with China and severed relations with Taiwan. That was last month. Marco Rubio thinks it is because Nicaragua’s government is glad China turns a blind eye to human rights violations.

In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, December 27, 2021

SymphonyDecember 26, 2021

Japan is on the scene in the Pacific. While Japanese athletes will attend the Olympics, Japanese officials will not. China doesn’t want Japan to “politicize” the games. But, consider 2008, the one-hour opening ceremony about nothing but China’s history, with President Xi marching in to a one-world dream at the end. For Beijing, hosting the Olympics is nothing but an opportunity to exhibit a grandiosity complex on a global scale.

By choosing China again, the Olympic committee handed the microphone to the fool. Japanese will go to the Olympics, except that they won’t; that’s the perfect East Asian insult. Japan is being an excellent member of the crowd, cheering on the fool.

But, the Olympics aren’t Japan’s only action. Manufacturing very-much-needed chips with Taiwan, as well as US battle plans for a Taiwan incident are right at the top. Make no mistake: this week, Japan sounded the alarm on China and the Chinese are terrified.

In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, November 22, 2021

SymphonyNovember 21, 2021

Now, China is being demanded answers about an athlete who went missing after accusing a Communist Party big wig of sexual harassment. The UN wants to know her whereabouts.

It won’t matter how China responds. If the Confucian Communists running China give the UN a satisfactory answer, then CCP would have just given in to international demands. That’s not something that the Chinese’s cocktail of crazy would do under normal circumstances. If China does actually give a satisfactory answer, it will build a mentally-destabilizing resentment deep within China’s leadership.

Either way, China feels backed into a corner.

Then, Taiwan flaunts ever-growing stronger ties with the States. Newly upgraded F-16s were commissioned this week, and both governments keep calling for more relations. That’s not out of the question because Taiwan just opened its office in Lithuania, an office named for “Taiwan” instead of the usual “Taipei”.

So, during all the great friendship happening between Taiwan and the rest of the world, not only is China uninvited; China is given a summons by the UN begging questions of sexual harassment and possibly murder.

In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, November 8, 2021

SymphonyNovember 7, 2021

China tripped the alarm. Revelations of a US aircraft carrier -shaped target in China’s Taklamakan Desert doesn’t exactly resemble a friendly trick-or-treat visit. Congress is upset, calling this the closest we’ve ever been. Washington tries to use calm rhetoric, saying they don’t foresee problems until 2024—it used to be 2025. But these days, they leave more and more room to avoid being wrong should a scuffle go ballistic in the Pacific.

The tech industry certainly is paying attention. Intel is building at five sites, three in the US, one in Ireland, and one in Israel. At the same time, the US government is questioning chip makers about their supply chains. One of those is TSMC, in Taiwan. Now, Congress wants to spend $52B on subsidies for chip makers inside the US. The message is clear: America is getting ready for a China-initiated disruption in the chip supply chain, the largest part in the world of which goes through Taiwan.

By the look of it, 2025 is the year when China will both be militarily dangerous and, for the chip industry, will no longer matter. While some news outlets cast China’s economy in a positive light, others show deep reasoning to sound the economic alarms. It looks like China is getting into a tighter and tighter pinch, and China’s economic response is the same as its response to political disfavor: marketing.

This week, the EU says it has unanimous support to strengthen relations with Taiwan—specifically because of China’s aggression.

In Cadence

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, October 25, 2021

SymphonyOctober 25, 2021

Taiwan was thrust into a position without being asked. In 1971, the United Nations removed the Taipei-seated government known today as “Taiwan” and switched to recognizing the Beijing-based government known as “China”. The Taiwanese were elbowed out of the global forum. Now, the US is working to bring Taiwan back in, but not the same way as in 1971. If the trend continues, China and Taiwan would both have a place in the General Assembly, though no government would admit that outcome quite yet.

At the same time Washington swoons the world and Taiwan toward each other, we hear the old fashioned, non-Trump, typical vibrato from the Biden administration. Biden’s own China ambassador nominees says China can’t be trusted. That kind of diplomacy is rooted in neither Trump’s success-at-any-cost focused strategy nor the moderate go-along-to-get-along mantra. Washington Democrats have read the polls and calculated that hating on China is popular with the electorate. This administration will blame and shame China more than Trump. Expect a WWI style war reparations ending to the coming scuffle, not the rebuilding WWII effort MacArthur did in conquered Japan.

Afghanistan’s failure is a false signal to China, but the Beijing echo chamber sees it as a true sign the US is weak. They don’t get it. America wanted out of Afghanistan. And, Americans won’t want post-Afghanistan disaster to hit Taiwan. China is an election campaign whipping boy, but can’t figure out that because China doesn’t know what an election really is.

In Tempo

Cadence of Conflict: Asia, October 18, 2021

SymphonyOctober 18, 2021October 18, 2021

According to Chinese and US claims, China has a high-orbit, hypersonic missile that can hit a target within 24 miles. And, that’s why China is the new boss of the world and everyone else should hate America. The end.

But, that’s not the end in the mind of Taiwan or the US Pentagon. This week, Taiwan asked the Pentagon to speed up its delivery of 22 F-16s. They were expected around 2029, but Taiwan claims China could invade by 2025. China may not agree to wait until 2025, especially since the new Communist hypersonic missile has been tested and even written about in the Global Times. All we need is a Global Times article to announce that China is strong enough to invade Taiwan at anytime, then the People’s Liberation Army would be fully prepared to show Confucian Communist love to the whole world.