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President Trump Pledges To Help China's ZTE, After Ban (usatoday.com)
President Trump said Sunday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping are working to put the troubled Chinese telecom manufacturer ZTE back in business. From a report: "President Xi of China, and I, are working together to give massive Chinese phone company, ZTE, a way to get back into business, fast," Trump said in a message on Twitter. "Too many jobs in China lost. Commerce Department has been instructed to get it done!" ZTE, maker of Android phones popular with budget-minded consumers, said Wednesday that it would cease "major operating activities," raising questions not only about its survival, but the impact on U.S. consumers who have previously bought or were thinking of buying ZTE phones. The announcement followed a decision last month by the U.S. Commerce Department, which banned American companies from exporting products to the Shenzhen, China-based telecom firm for seven years.
It is not about US market, it is about now being illegal for US companies to license software (like Google Play) and hardware (like CPU chips) to ZTE.
http://www.bbc.com/news/busine...
"Beijing has made resolving the situation with ZTE, which employs about 80,000 people, one of its demands for striking a broader trade agreement with with US."
Trump has no choice, other than to burn the whole deal. We know he doesn't like to lose.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Given China lackluster record in "integrating" the hearts and minds of the Hong Kong residents, who were basically tossed to the wolves by the British after 99 years of dutifully generated revenues for the British Empire. Despite some last minute electoral reforms by the British prior to the 1997 hand over to China, Hong Kong was basically a colonial subject of the Crown without a tradition of electing its own executives.
Taiwan, on the other hand, thanks to continuous US intervention since WWII, has blossomed into a fractious democracy, along with the requisite shares of protests, counter-protesters, counter-counter-protests.... and etc. Streets protest is almost a national past time, enjoyed by all demographic, from the young to the old, regardless of sexual orientation, or ethnic origin. Not to mentioned that unlike Hong Kong, Taiwan has its own military.
Whether or not Taiwan's military that is being rapidly eclipsed by the Chinese military can hold its own against the Chinese is a vexing question for the island residents. However, the strategic value of loosing Taiwan to China mean loosing our pave paws radar in Taiwan, loosing our first island of defense against China and allowing China to control the sea lane that connects Japan and Korea to the half the world and their oil supply.
Taiwan also has a fairly globalized semiconductor sector. Any disruption will be felt across the world. Any damage to Taiwan's infrastructure means rapid price inflation for anything good with semiconductor inside. Fab equipment aren't usually the type people can buy in quantities immediately.
Given the rise of authoritarian China, the long term strategic and short term financial importance of a democratic Taiwan to people who enjoy free speech, especially in the digital medium, cannot be overstated.
Sadly, to our smarter-than-thou president, it's all tl;dr. He is just happy to have found his NK mini-me.
SAD . . .