Is the cancellation of US arms sales to Taiwan a good thing or not?

'TAIPEI—Taiwan has long relied on the U.S. to provide it with weapons to stave off an attack by China. But following President Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, American support for the island’s defense—vital to Taiwan’s survival as a self-ruled democracy—is in question.

In remarks that aired after he left Beijing last week, Trump said a $14 billion package of U.S. arms for Taiwan that awaits his approval is “a very good negotiating chip” with China.

While Beijing, which views Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory, has committed to a policy of “peaceful unification” with Taiwan since 1979, successive Chinese leaders, including Xi, have also refused to renounce the possible use of military force to try to seize the island.

Trump’s remark could embolden China to step up its aggression against Taiwan, some analysts said. 

“Trump’s public openness to negotiating with Beijing over America’s posture on Taiwan will serve as the diplomatic equivalent of a matador waving a red flag in front of a bull,” Ryan Hass, director of the Brookings Institution’s China center, wrote in an online commentary. “It will cause Beijing to intensify its efforts to test the boundaries of what it can gain in terms of loosening America’s commitment to Taiwan’s security.”

Trump’s comment, made in a Fox interview that aired after he left Beijing, has made how the U.S. handles the arms package a litmus test of his administration’s support for Taiwan.

Trump said in the interview that U.S. policy on Taiwan hadn’t changed.

“If the president does not proceed with the arms sale to Taiwan, he will jeopardize U.S.-Taiwan relations and weaken U.S. credibility globally,” said retired Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, now a senior fellow at Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which supports a tougher stance toward China.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te weighed in Wednesday, declaring that Taiwan’s status isn’t up to China or the U.S. to determine.

“Taiwan’s future cannot be decided by foreign forces,” Lai said in a speech marking the anniversary of his 2024 inauguration. “The future of Taiwan can only be decided by the 23 million people of Taiwan.”

Lai said he would continue efforts to strengthen the island’s defenses and is willing to engage with China on equal terms. His remarks echoed a stance he has maintained since he took office. Beijing has refused to engage with Lai, and has at times conducted large-scale military exercises to pressure his administration.

“We pursue stability, but not at the expense of our sovereignty and democratic way of life. This is Taiwan’s bottom line,” Lai said.

Taiwan depends on U.S. military supplies such as advanced jet fighters and missile systems, as other countries shy from selling major weapons systems to the island to avoid retaliation from China.'

WSJ

Spurs win, no repeat for OKC

crap I forgot about the newsletter bah! I was wondering why today felt so chill.

@optimism , what do you think of this analogy by ChatGPT...

In the restaurant analogy:

• NVIDIA GPUs = chefs cooking the food (doing the AI computations)
• Micron = countertops/workstations where ingredients are actively being used
• Sandisk = pantry + refrigerators storing huge amounts of ingredients and prepared food
• Bloom Energy = the power utility supplying electricity to the restaurant
• IREN = the restaurant building itself
• Vertiv Holdings = the industrial HVAC, refrigeration, plumbing, and electrical systems keeping the kitchen from overheating

The deeper theme:
AI is no longer just a software story. It is becoming a full industrial buildout involving power, cooling, buildings, networking, storage, and physical infrastructure.

Opti wakes up to a report that there is a massive malware thing going on

Opti tries to find out the origin of the report

GitHub: the source is TrustMeBro™^[1]

1. aka: "the npmjs team we acquired back in 2020 that we refer to in the docs as if they are an external entity but in fact it's our own employees." ↩

Is there a way to find out which posts I've drafted a comment on but didn't send? If not, here's a suggestion.

Reminder for today: be in one task at a time. Don’t dilute your attention. Wherever you are, whatever you do, be there, 100%.

source

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Last year was the last day of the school term, which was all that was needed to inject this quotidian Saturday with a bit of lightheartedness. Somehow managed found the time to read a couple of days of a Japanese book I had purchased donkey years ago. Also started to paste some trivia animal facts written in Chinese for the benefit of my son. In the process, I discovered a scrapbook in which I had painstakingly pasted Science diagrams and marking schemes last December. Funny how a hectic six months of work had made me forget about this scrapbook entirely.

Love how this holiday is brimming with possibilities. I still have tons of work to clear, but I feel free and mighty.