GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON #202
Much appears in the media about military tensions in the South China Sea, especially in the Taiwan Straits. Taiwan views itself as an independent country + wants to be left alone. China views Taiwan as a renegade province of China + wants the province back. Will there be War? Will there be Peace?
Yesterday the FT reports that the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker will invest $2.8bn in China to increase the production of semiconductors in automobiles.
TSMC will install new production lines at an existing plant in Nanjing with mass production commencing in 2023 to meet the growing demand for 28-nanometre automotive chips – monthly production of 40,000 wafers. The wafers are critical to auto production + are in a world short supply.
We always need to see the whole picture. Co-operation v Confrontation is the choice for the US going forward. Alongside the military build-up in the S China Sea + the prospect of War, there is increased trade/investment + the prospect of Peace.
As Mao Tsetung stressed – “the dialectic is always present”.
