SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the year-of-the-linux-desktop-in-China-by-2023 dept.
The Guardian is reporting that the tech war just got hot.
China will be replacing all hardware and software with Chinese equivalents. This is the latest escalation in the US-China tech trade war in response to the US ban on Huawei equipment.
China has ordered that all foreign computer equipment and software be removed from government offices and public institutions within three years, the Financial Times reports.
The government directive is likely to be a blow to US multinational companies like HP, Dell and Microsoft and mirrors attempts by Washington to limit the use of Chinese technology, as the trade war between the countries turns into a tech cold war.
The Trump administration banned US companies from doing business with Chinese Chinese[sic] telecommunications company Huawei earlier this year and in May, Google, Intel and Qualcomm announced they would freeze cooperation with Huawei.
By excluding China from western know-how, the Trump administration has made it clear that the real battle is about which of the two economic superpowers has the technological edge for the next two decades.
China already leads in patents
China's 2016 patent application total is greater than the combined total of patent applications filed in 2016 in the United States (605,571), Japan (318,381), South Korea (208,830) and Europe (159,358). These five jurisdictions accounted for 84 percent of all patent applications filed during 2016.
China has been preparing for an all-out IT war.
In May, Hu Xijin, editor of the Global Times newspaper in China, said the withdrawal of sharing by US tech companies with Huawei would not be fatal for the company because the Chinese firm has been planning for this conflict "for years" and would prompt the company to develop its own microchip industry to rival America's.
"Cutting off technical services to Huawei will be a real turning point in China's overall research and development and use of domestic chips," he said in a social media post. "Chinese people will no longer have any illusions about the steady use of US technology."
US trade policy may have been meant to pressure China, but that move looks to have just forced an acceleration of the loss of software and hardware orders from American suppliers to China.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 09 2019, @06:20PM (12 children)
I'd take another angle here. China obviously knew that, sooner or later, the US would become an enemy. We're top dog and China is becoming the new top dog. The US is not going to accept this without a fight, perhaps literally. Consequently, dependence on US tech was obviously a short-term solution since it's the sort of thing that would eventually be used as leverage against China. So this may be a decision to execute a long foreseen strategy rather than an out-of-the-blue imperative.
One thing that seems to hint at this is that the article suggests 20-30 million pieces of hardware would need to be replaced. That seems like a lot until you consider that there are 90 million members in the state party. And that's just considering the government, not public institutions which are also to be 'cleaned.' Seems like a really low figure for what should ostensibly be a huge endeavor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 09 2019, @06:42PM
"20-30 million pieces of hardware"
Ebay's gonna be fun for the next few years.
Cheap systems and parts for all!
Shipping might be a little high.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday December 09 2019, @08:59PM (10 children)
I really hope you're wrong about that bit, as there is no way the US could win that fight. China wouldn't win either, and we would all lose.
Fortunately the monied class who run the US make too much money from China to allow a shooting war to happen, (I hope).
(Score: 2) by legont on Monday December 09 2019, @11:54PM (9 children)
There is only one strategy the US could implement successfully. It was designed long time ago by Brits.
In a nutshell, to provoke an internal instability and then break the country into a few rich coastal republics and poor commodity center.
Beijing, off course, knows it well, which explains it's internal policies.
I believe the US would be willing to risk a nuclear war on this path.
Why the US might think China will fold? Well, a lot of Chinese are now rich and don't want any confrontation and OK with whoever will be the boss. They might lean toward the biggest phsyco out there. Besides, Soviet Union did fold and so some nuts believe themselves invisible. It probably will be a game of chicken in the end.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday December 10 2019, @12:25AM (8 children)
Holy shit! Really? Surely Mutually Assured Destruction would stop that ever happening?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 10 2019, @01:56AM (7 children)
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 10 2019, @02:16AM (6 children)
MAD works about as well as the ability of any side in the conflict to set off a nuke close to an opponent's major city.
I'm pretty sure the Chinese could get one off, maybe two - not enough to prevent massive retaliation, which will _probably_ prevent them from starting anything.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by legont on Tuesday December 10 2019, @03:58AM (2 children)
Chinese have strictly no first strike policy. In fact their nukes are not even deployed, but stored for a retaliation strike. They plan to take the attack, then dig out the nukes and retaliate. This policy gives them a rather unique capabilities. For example, they could send a ballistic missile into a Trump Tower on Manhattan without fear of triggering all out nuclear war; not right away at least. That's because everybody knows the load is conventional.
Don't ask for links, please, but consider it an "opinion";)
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 10 2019, @04:55PM (1 child)
About as reassuring as a new home warranty backed by a salesman in a cheap suit, who you know is on his way to the airport never to return but you don't know where he's going.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 11 2019, @03:53PM
It's still more sane and reassuring than the US system where Trump can launch nukes if he has a bad day and nobody is legally supposed to be able to stop him.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/01/no-one-can-stop-president-trump-from-using-nuclear-weapons-thats-by-design/ [washingtonpost.com]
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/11/19/no-one-can-prevent-trump-using-nuclear-weapons-experts-say/878673001/ [usatoday.com]
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/14/could-anyone-stop-trump-from-launching-nukes-the-answer-no.html [cnbc.com]
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a24113/presidential-authority-nuclear-weapons/ [popularmechanics.com]
https://www.snopes.com/ap/2017/11/13/anyone-stop-trump-launching-nukes-answer-no/ [snopes.com]
There are some who claim he can't but if you bother to look carefully it's just wishful thinking. Based on the system he really can. All the people down the chain are only supposed to confirm that the order is from Trump, not whether the order makes sense or that Congress etc agree with it.
On the bright side, he does seem to do some checking: https://www.rawstory.com/2019/08/trump-told-his-administration-to-check-if-he-can-stop-hurricanes-with-a-nuclear-bomb/ [rawstory.com]
China's leaders are probably intelligent and competent enough to realize that the USA has enough nukes to wipe out all the nice places in China they are living in. So it's the end of their nice lifestyle if they start a nuclear war. They even have their own farms supplying them safe food ( https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-party-has-its-own-safe-food-supply-in-china_1498024.html [theepochtimes.com] ).
I suspect if Trump gets impeached it might affect his lifestyle a bit. He probably wouldn't nuke the world before that, but how sure can you be?
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday December 10 2019, @05:20AM (2 children)
It's the Americans who elect nut jobs and give them the sole power to launch a first strike.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday December 10 2019, @04:57PM (1 child)
I sincerely hope that's not really the case, just something we say to keep the other side nervous. As for reality, the only proven reality is history, and nobody's accidentally launched a nuke in anger yet.
Україна досі не є частиною Росії Слава Україні🌻 https://news.stanford.edu/2023/02/17/will-russia-ukraine-war-end
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday December 10 2019, @05:26PM
Well hopefully we'll never find out. It does seem China mostly has a 2nd strike capability and would rather build high speed rail then lots of nukes.
Right now the scariest nation is Pakistan, tactical nukes deployed and quite a bit of autonomy for the local commanders. Only good thing, if you can call it good, is that a war there is unlikely to escalate beyond the Indian subcontinent.