FOX NEWS
"Republicans demand answers after top Biden official invited CCP leaders to sensitive national security site"
Story by Thomas Catenacci
10 NOVEMBER 2023
FIRST ON FOX: A coalition of 18 House Republicans led by GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., are pressing Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm over her agency's invitation for foreign adversaries to inspect a sensitive U.S. nuclear testing site.
In a letter sent Thursday morning, Stefanik and the other Republicans blasted Granholm for recently offering China and Russia "unprecedented access" to the Department of Energy's (DOE) Nevada National Security Site.
Bloomberg reported in September that the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration invited Chinese and Russian officials to tour the site to prove the U.S. is upholding a three-decade moratorium against testing nuclear weapons.
"I am leading my colleagues in demanding that President Biden revoke this misguided invitation to our adversaries in Beijing and Moscow that grants them unprecedented access and insight into our nuclear weapons," Stefanik told Fox News Digital.
"Inviting Communist China and Russia to have a front row seat for our sensitive nuclear weapons tests will give them invaluable information on how to defeat our nuclear capabilities and improve their own."
"At a time when our adversaries are growing their nuclear stockpiles to undermine America’s leadership allowing them access to one of our nuclear test sites will only advance this pursuit and lead to our own destruction," she continued.
The National Nuclear Security Administration invited its Chinese and Russian counterparts to tour the Nevada site — where sensitive nuclear experimentation is conducted — during the latest International Atomic Energy Agency summit, according to Bloomberg.
Corey Hinderstein, a senior National Nuclear Security Administration official, said China and Russia didn't immediately respond to the invitation.
The invitation came months after Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended his nation's participation in the only remaining nuclear arms control pact with America.
And last week Putin signed a law withdrawing Russia from its ratification of a global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in a move quickly condemned by the State Department and which is evidence of deteriorating relations between the two sides.
Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., who was one of the co-signers of Stefanik's letter to Granholm on Thursday, said allowing foreign adversaries to observe U.S. nuclear testing activities "allows them to derive our methods and procedures and this destroys deterrence."
"As Chairman of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces Subcommittee, one of my priorities has been to strengthen and protect our nuclear arsenal," he told Fox News Digital.
"In the world today, nothing could jeopardize our national security more than losing this advantage."
"I was stunned to hear recent reports of Biden administration officials inviting citizens from our two greatest adversaries to observe U.S. nuclear weapons tests."
"Russia and China should not have insider access to our testing."
"Both countries have had ample opportunity to be more open about their nuclear weapons development and deployments and refuse to do so."
"The amendment I introduced on this matter will halt the Biden administration's latest lapse in judgment," the Colorado lawmaker continued.
Late last month, Lamborn introduced a bill to block foreign nationals from witnessing U.S. nuclear weapons testing at national labs.
The bill was attached to the Fiscal Year 2024 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act which the House passed on Oct. 26.
The letter Thursday also comes as China continues to expand its own nuclear capabilities and armament.
Stefanik, Lamborn and the other GOP lawmakers noted the Department of Defense has warned China’s nuclear expansion is exceeding previous U.S. projections.
"The PRC is now projected to have over 1,000 warheads by the end of this decade," General Anthony Cotton, the commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, told lawmakers during an Armed Services Committee hearing in March.
In their letter, the Republicans told Granholm that China now has no reason to halt the aggressive expansion of its nuclear development "if they are given this access while offering nothing in return."
They further noted that China has refused to engage in discussions on its nuclear expansion and DOE's actions threaten to "embolden their efforts to continue growing their arsenal."
"The notion of granting America’s adversaries’ access to our military sites — and enabling them to gain information about U.S. nuclear capabilities — is deeply alarming and fundamentally absurd," Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., another letter co-signer, told Fox News Digital.
"I am proud to join my colleagues in demanding the Biden administration explain why they are inviting Russian and Chinese Communist Party officials to access our most sensitive laboratories and testing facilities."
In addition to Stefanik, Lamborn and Wittman, fellow GOP Reps. Joe Wilson, James Moylan, Bill Posey, Pat Fallon, Chris Smith, Ashley Hinson, Carlos Gimenez, Scott DesJarlais, John Moolenaar, Lance Gooden, Brett Guthrie, Dale Strong, Julia Letlow, Robert Aderholt and Brad Wenstrup also co-signed the letter.
The DOE didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 4b03&ei=61
CHINA
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"Yellen warns Beijing: Chinese firms aiding Russia face 'significant consequences'"
By David Lawder, Ann Saphir
NOVEMBER 10, 2023
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said the U.S. government had seen evidence that Chinese firms may be aiding in the flow of equipment to Russia’s war effort despite Western sanctions, and said she had urged China to crack down.
Yellen said she raised the issue during two days of meetings with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, expressing concern that equipment “helpful to Russia’s military” was evading sanctions and getting to Moscow to aid its war against Ukraine.
“I stressed that companies must not provide material support to Russia’s defense industrial sector and that they will face significant consequences if they do,” Yellen told reporters at a news conference in San Francisco.
“We are determined to do all that we can to stem this flow of material that aids Russia in conducting this brutal and illegal war,” Yellen said, warning that any companies aiding Moscow’s war effort could face sanctions.
She said the U.S. government had already imposed sanctions against a number of private firms, including some in China, that were helping Russia get equipment, along with some financial institutions that could be aiding that effort.
“We would like to see China crack down on this, especially when we’re able to provide information,” she said.
She gave no further details on the names of the companies involved or He’s reaction.
Yellen stressed the Chinese firms in question were private and said she was not suggesting that this was occurring with knowledge of the Chinese government.
Reporting by David Lawder and Ann Saphir, writing by Andrea Shalal and Alistair Bell
https://www.reuters.com/article/apec-us ... SL1N3CB2BY
"Yellen warns Beijing: Chinese firms aiding Russia face 'significant consequences'"
By David Lawder, Ann Saphir
NOVEMBER 10, 2023
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Friday said the U.S. government had seen evidence that Chinese firms may be aiding in the flow of equipment to Russia’s war effort despite Western sanctions, and said she had urged China to crack down.
Yellen said she raised the issue during two days of meetings with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, expressing concern that equipment “helpful to Russia’s military” was evading sanctions and getting to Moscow to aid its war against Ukraine.
“I stressed that companies must not provide material support to Russia’s defense industrial sector and that they will face significant consequences if they do,” Yellen told reporters at a news conference in San Francisco.
“We are determined to do all that we can to stem this flow of material that aids Russia in conducting this brutal and illegal war,” Yellen said, warning that any companies aiding Moscow’s war effort could face sanctions.
She said the U.S. government had already imposed sanctions against a number of private firms, including some in China, that were helping Russia get equipment, along with some financial institutions that could be aiding that effort.
“We would like to see China crack down on this, especially when we’re able to provide information,” she said.
She gave no further details on the names of the companies involved or He’s reaction.
Yellen stressed the Chinese firms in question were private and said she was not suggesting that this was occurring with knowledge of the Chinese government.
Reporting by David Lawder and Ann Saphir, writing by Andrea Shalal and Alistair Bell
https://www.reuters.com/article/apec-us ... SL1N3CB2BY
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"China receives US equipment to make advanced chips despite new rules, report says"
By Alexandra Alper
November 14, 2023
WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Chinese companies are buying up U.S. chipmaking equipment to make advanced semiconductors, despite a raft of new export curbs aimed at thwarting advances in the country's semiconductor industry, a congressional report said on Tuesday.
The 741 page annual report, released by the House of Representative's bipartisan select committee on China, takes aim at the Biden administration's Oct. 2022 export curbs, which seek to bar Chinese chipmakers from getting U.S. chipmaking tools if they would be used to manufacture advanced chips at the 14 nanometer node or below.
With the Commerce Department using the 14 nanometer restriction limit, "importers are often able to purchase the equipment if they claim it is being used on an older production line, and with limited capacity for end-use inspections, it is difficult to verify the equipment is not being used to produce more advanced chips," the report stated.
The finding comes as the United States scrambles to figure out how Chinese telecoms giant Huawei was able to produce an advanced 7 nanometer chip to power its Mate 60 Pro smartphone at China's top chipmaker SMIC, despite the export curbs announced last year.
Huawei and SMIC were also added to a trade restriction list in 2019 and 2020, which in theory bars U.S. suppliers from shipping certain technology to the companies.
China watchers had theorized that SMIC could have made the chip with equipment obtained prior to the October 2022 rules, but it had other options for obtaining the equipment from oversees, the report shows.
The United States managed to plug a key loophole in its efforts to stymie China's access to advanced chipmaking tools by convincing allies Japan and the Netherlands, with similarly robust chipmaking equipment industries, to announce their own restrictions on exports of the coveted technology.
But China stockpiled equipment by taking advantage of the lagtime between the United States' October 2022 rules, and Japan and the Netherlands' similar moves in July and September of 2023 respectively, the report details.
According to the document, between January and August 2023, China imported $3.2 billion (RMB 23.5 billion) worth of semiconductor manufacturing machines from the Netherlands, a 96.1% increase over the $1.7 billion (RMB 12 billion) recorded over the same period in 2022.
China's imports of semiconductor equipment from all countries totaled $13.8 billion (RMB 100 billion) over the first eight months of 2023, it added.
The report does not outline a specific recommendation to address the gaps in the U.S. rules, but urges Congress to request an annual evaluation, to be completed within 6 months by the General Accountability Office and later made public, of the effectiveness of export controls on chipmaking equipment to China.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
https://www.reuters.com/technology/chin ... 023-11-14/
"China receives US equipment to make advanced chips despite new rules, report says"
By Alexandra Alper
November 14, 2023
WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Chinese companies are buying up U.S. chipmaking equipment to make advanced semiconductors, despite a raft of new export curbs aimed at thwarting advances in the country's semiconductor industry, a congressional report said on Tuesday.
The 741 page annual report, released by the House of Representative's bipartisan select committee on China, takes aim at the Biden administration's Oct. 2022 export curbs, which seek to bar Chinese chipmakers from getting U.S. chipmaking tools if they would be used to manufacture advanced chips at the 14 nanometer node or below.
With the Commerce Department using the 14 nanometer restriction limit, "importers are often able to purchase the equipment if they claim it is being used on an older production line, and with limited capacity for end-use inspections, it is difficult to verify the equipment is not being used to produce more advanced chips," the report stated.
The finding comes as the United States scrambles to figure out how Chinese telecoms giant Huawei was able to produce an advanced 7 nanometer chip to power its Mate 60 Pro smartphone at China's top chipmaker SMIC, despite the export curbs announced last year.
Huawei and SMIC were also added to a trade restriction list in 2019 and 2020, which in theory bars U.S. suppliers from shipping certain technology to the companies.
China watchers had theorized that SMIC could have made the chip with equipment obtained prior to the October 2022 rules, but it had other options for obtaining the equipment from oversees, the report shows.
The United States managed to plug a key loophole in its efforts to stymie China's access to advanced chipmaking tools by convincing allies Japan and the Netherlands, with similarly robust chipmaking equipment industries, to announce their own restrictions on exports of the coveted technology.
But China stockpiled equipment by taking advantage of the lagtime between the United States' October 2022 rules, and Japan and the Netherlands' similar moves in July and September of 2023 respectively, the report details.
According to the document, between January and August 2023, China imported $3.2 billion (RMB 23.5 billion) worth of semiconductor manufacturing machines from the Netherlands, a 96.1% increase over the $1.7 billion (RMB 12 billion) recorded over the same period in 2022.
China's imports of semiconductor equipment from all countries totaled $13.8 billion (RMB 100 billion) over the first eight months of 2023, it added.
The report does not outline a specific recommendation to address the gaps in the U.S. rules, but urges Congress to request an annual evaluation, to be completed within 6 months by the General Accountability Office and later made public, of the effectiveness of export controls on chipmaking equipment to China.
Reporting by Alexandra Alper; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
https://www.reuters.com/technology/chin ... 023-11-14/
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"Exclusive: Applied Materials under US criminal probe for shipments to China's SMIC - sources"
By Karen Freifeld
November 16, 2023
Nov 16 (Reuters) - Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials is under U.S. criminal investigation for potentially evading export restrictions on China's top chipmaker SMIC, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The largest U.S. semiconductor equipment maker is being probed by the Justice Department for sending equipment to SMIC via South Korea without export licenses, the sources said.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment is involved, one of the people said.
Reuters is reporting details of the probe for the first time.
Shares in Applied Materials fell 7.3% after the news and the company reported quarterly results.
The U.S. has restricted shipments of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China for national security, and the Justice and Commerce departments launched a task force earlier this year to investigate and prosecute criminal violations of export controls.
The rules are aimed at stemming the flow of U.S. technology that could be used to bolster China's military and intelligence capabilities.
Santa Clara, California-based Applied Materials said Thursday it first disclosed in October 2022 that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts for information on certain China customer shipments.
"The company is cooperating with the government and remains committed to compliance and global laws, including export controls and trade regulations," it said in a statement.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Boston said: "We do not confirm or deny investigations."
Prosecutors in the office's National Security Unit are handling the ongoing probe, two sources said.
Reuters could not determine whether Applied Materials violated the law, and it isn't clear whether the investigation will result in charges.
The company produced semiconductor equipment in Massachusetts, then repeatedly shipped the equipment from its plant in Gloucester to a subsidiary in South Korea, the people said.
From there, the equipment went to China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the people, familiar with the probe, said.
The shipments began after the U.S. Commerce Department added SMIC to its "Entity List" in December 2020, which restricted exports of goods and technology to the company, two of the sources said, and took place in 2021 and 2022.
SMIC was placed on the list over its apparent ties to the Chinese military.
SMIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shipments from Applied Materials.
In 2020, SMIC denied ties with the Chinese military, saying that it manufactures chips and provides services "solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses."
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, declined comment.
A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SUBJECT TO UNCERTAINTIES
In adding SMIC to its trade blacklist in 2020, the Commerce Department said that licenses for equipment uniquely capable of producing chips at advanced technology nodes are likely to be denied to "prevent such key enabling technology from supporting China’s military modernization efforts,” according to a 2020 posting in the Federal Register.
Licenses for other items are subject to a case-by-case review, it added.
In March 2021, Reuters reported that the U.S. government had been slow to approve licenses for American companies like Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials to sell to SMIC.
"This matter is subject to uncertainties, and we cannot predict the outcome, nor reasonably estimate a range of loss or penalties, if any, relating to this matter," the company said in an August 2023 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in reference to its 2022 receipt of the subpoena relating to certain China customer shipments.
Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Anna Driver
https://www.reuters.com/technology/appl ... 023-11-16/
"Exclusive: Applied Materials under US criminal probe for shipments to China's SMIC - sources"
By Karen Freifeld
November 16, 2023
Nov 16 (Reuters) - Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials is under U.S. criminal investigation for potentially evading export restrictions on China's top chipmaker SMIC, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The largest U.S. semiconductor equipment maker is being probed by the Justice Department for sending equipment to SMIC via South Korea without export licenses, the sources said.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of equipment is involved, one of the people said.
Reuters is reporting details of the probe for the first time.
Shares in Applied Materials fell 7.3% after the news and the company reported quarterly results.
The U.S. has restricted shipments of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China for national security, and the Justice and Commerce departments launched a task force earlier this year to investigate and prosecute criminal violations of export controls.
The rules are aimed at stemming the flow of U.S. technology that could be used to bolster China's military and intelligence capabilities.
Santa Clara, California-based Applied Materials said Thursday it first disclosed in October 2022 that it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts for information on certain China customer shipments.
"The company is cooperating with the government and remains committed to compliance and global laws, including export controls and trade regulations," it said in a statement.
The U.S. Attorney's office in Boston said: "We do not confirm or deny investigations."
Prosecutors in the office's National Security Unit are handling the ongoing probe, two sources said.
Reuters could not determine whether Applied Materials violated the law, and it isn't clear whether the investigation will result in charges.
The company produced semiconductor equipment in Massachusetts, then repeatedly shipped the equipment from its plant in Gloucester to a subsidiary in South Korea, the people said.
From there, the equipment went to China's Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), the people, familiar with the probe, said.
The shipments began after the U.S. Commerce Department added SMIC to its "Entity List" in December 2020, which restricted exports of goods and technology to the company, two of the sources said, and took place in 2021 and 2022.
SMIC was placed on the list over its apparent ties to the Chinese military.
SMIC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the shipments from Applied Materials.
In 2020, SMIC denied ties with the Chinese military, saying that it manufactures chips and provides services "solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses."
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department, which oversees export controls, declined comment.
A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
SUBJECT TO UNCERTAINTIES
In adding SMIC to its trade blacklist in 2020, the Commerce Department said that licenses for equipment uniquely capable of producing chips at advanced technology nodes are likely to be denied to "prevent such key enabling technology from supporting China’s military modernization efforts,” according to a 2020 posting in the Federal Register.
Licenses for other items are subject to a case-by-case review, it added.
In March 2021, Reuters reported that the U.S. government had been slow to approve licenses for American companies like Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials to sell to SMIC.
"This matter is subject to uncertainties, and we cannot predict the outcome, nor reasonably estimate a range of loss or penalties, if any, relating to this matter," the company said in an August 2023 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in reference to its 2022 receipt of the subpoena relating to certain China customer shipments.
Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Anna Driver
https://www.reuters.com/technology/appl ... 023-11-16/
Re: CHINA
Newsweek
"China Calls America's Bluff in the South China Sea"
Story by John Feng
23 NOVEMBER 2023
The Philippines and the United States — one of the oldest alliances in Asia — began three days of joint air and sea patrols in the South China Sea on Tuesday aimed at pushing back against China's constant probing in the region.
The exercise, which runs through Thursday, involves the Philippine Air Force and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).
It is taking place in the "West Philippine Sea," Manila's name for the portion of the South China Sea that falls within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, where Beijing has been actively asserting its claim to contested islands, reefs and atolls in the Spratly Islands archipelago.
In a recent visit to Hawaii, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued one of his strongest rebukes yet of China's "persistent unlawful threats and challenges against Philippine sovereign rights and jurisdictions."
In his 17 months in office, Marcos' government has filed dozens, if not hundreds, of diplomatic protests with Beijing over the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia's harassment of Filipino fishermen and coast guard vessels.
In at least half a dozen run-ins around Manila-held Second Thomas Shoal since August, the Philippines has accused Chinese ships of unleashing water cannons, setting up barriers and blockades, and ramming. In February, a Philippine Coast Guard crew was said to have been temporarily blinded by a Chinese coast guard ship's "military-grade laser."
Each of the incidents drew a strongly worded response from the U.S. State Department and last month from the U.S. president himself.
Joe Biden reaffirmed the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 and pledged to respond militarily against any attack on Filipino servicemembers, including in the South China Sea.
But the constant Chinese pressure in the "gray zone" — actions that stop short of war — has not stopped; skepticism about the depth of Washington's commitment is rising, observers in the region say, at a time when multiple conflicts are testing America's bandwidth.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, Derek Grossman, a security analyst at the RAND Corp. think tank, said interlocutors in the Philippines were questioning the U.S.' commitment to defend Manila's de facto territories in the Spratlys, after the long-time American ally lost ground to Beijing in the previous decades and had to watch as China built now fully militarized artificial islands in the area.
The Philippines is "very pro-U.S.," Grossman wrote on Tuesday.
But memories of U.S. inaction when, in 2012, Chinese forces wrested Scarborough Shoal from Manila's control remain "an anti-U.S. trigger," he said.
In 2014, the Obama administration brought the disputed Senkaku Islands within the scope of Washington's security treaty with Tokyo."
"Manila, however, had to wait five more years until the Trump administration publicly committed American power toward the defense of Philippine-held territories in the South China Sea — a betrayal," Grossman said.
Reached by email, the State Department and INDOPACOM referred Newsweek to previous government statements.
China asserts ownership over the territories and maritime zones of nearly the entirety of the energy-rich South China Sea, challenging some half a dozen neighboring states in the process.
Beijing appears to have the wherewithal to tirelessly probe the defenses of major claimants including the Philippines and Vietnam.
The U.S., meanwhile, has in recent years stepped up warnings about the implications of acquiescing to Chinese control of local sea lines — critical maritime trade routes that carry an estimated one-third of global shipping.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that the U.S.-Philippines patrols "should not harm China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights."
China's immediate aim is to prevent the Philippines from resupplying and repairing the BRP Sierra Madre — a rusty Philippine Navy warship grounded at Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 for use as an outpost — after which it would "likely move in to establish its own control over the reef," said Gregory Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C.
"In the long term, it hopes to use non-military pressure to convince the Philippines and all the other claimants that resistance is futile and they should acknowledge China's claimed historic rights to all of the South China Sea," Poling told Newsweek.
China's gray zone moves against the U.S. ally were not aimed at testing America's resolve, Poling said.
Beijing "doesn't have any better ideas," he said, arguing that its tactics were backfiring and pushing the Philippines — and others — closer to the United States.
Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at Taiwan's top military think tank, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Newsweek that Beijing had identified U.S.-skeptic elements in Manila as a potential vulnerability in what has become a "ring of containment" against China — led by the U.S. and featuring South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The Chinese navy's submarines operate frequently in the depths of the South China Sea, Su said.
"The People's Liberation Army's activities not only test the bottom line of the U.S. military, but also use the U.S. military's presence to 'train' the PLA and protect the movements of its underwater fleet."
"It's like killing three birds with one stone," he said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ch ... f6e1&ei=26
"China Calls America's Bluff in the South China Sea"
Story by John Feng
23 NOVEMBER 2023
The Philippines and the United States — one of the oldest alliances in Asia — began three days of joint air and sea patrols in the South China Sea on Tuesday aimed at pushing back against China's constant probing in the region.
The exercise, which runs through Thursday, involves the Philippine Air Force and the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM).
It is taking place in the "West Philippine Sea," Manila's name for the portion of the South China Sea that falls within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone, where Beijing has been actively asserting its claim to contested islands, reefs and atolls in the Spratly Islands archipelago.
In a recent visit to Hawaii, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. issued one of his strongest rebukes yet of China's "persistent unlawful threats and challenges against Philippine sovereign rights and jurisdictions."
In his 17 months in office, Marcos' government has filed dozens, if not hundreds, of diplomatic protests with Beijing over the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia's harassment of Filipino fishermen and coast guard vessels.
In at least half a dozen run-ins around Manila-held Second Thomas Shoal since August, the Philippines has accused Chinese ships of unleashing water cannons, setting up barriers and blockades, and ramming. In February, a Philippine Coast Guard crew was said to have been temporarily blinded by a Chinese coast guard ship's "military-grade laser."
Each of the incidents drew a strongly worded response from the U.S. State Department and last month from the U.S. president himself.
Joe Biden reaffirmed the U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951 and pledged to respond militarily against any attack on Filipino servicemembers, including in the South China Sea.
But the constant Chinese pressure in the "gray zone" — actions that stop short of war — has not stopped; skepticism about the depth of Washington's commitment is rising, observers in the region say, at a time when multiple conflicts are testing America's bandwidth.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday, Derek Grossman, a security analyst at the RAND Corp. think tank, said interlocutors in the Philippines were questioning the U.S.' commitment to defend Manila's de facto territories in the Spratlys, after the long-time American ally lost ground to Beijing in the previous decades and had to watch as China built now fully militarized artificial islands in the area.
The Philippines is "very pro-U.S.," Grossman wrote on Tuesday.
But memories of U.S. inaction when, in 2012, Chinese forces wrested Scarborough Shoal from Manila's control remain "an anti-U.S. trigger," he said.
In 2014, the Obama administration brought the disputed Senkaku Islands within the scope of Washington's security treaty with Tokyo."
"Manila, however, had to wait five more years until the Trump administration publicly committed American power toward the defense of Philippine-held territories in the South China Sea — a betrayal," Grossman said.
Reached by email, the State Department and INDOPACOM referred Newsweek to previous government statements.
China asserts ownership over the territories and maritime zones of nearly the entirety of the energy-rich South China Sea, challenging some half a dozen neighboring states in the process.
Beijing appears to have the wherewithal to tirelessly probe the defenses of major claimants including the Philippines and Vietnam.
The U.S., meanwhile, has in recent years stepped up warnings about the implications of acquiescing to Chinese control of local sea lines — critical maritime trade routes that carry an estimated one-third of global shipping.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Wednesday that the U.S.-Philippines patrols "should not harm China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights."
China's immediate aim is to prevent the Philippines from resupplying and repairing the BRP Sierra Madre — a rusty Philippine Navy warship grounded at Second Thomas Shoal in 1999 for use as an outpost — after which it would "likely move in to establish its own control over the reef," said Gregory Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C.
"In the long term, it hopes to use non-military pressure to convince the Philippines and all the other claimants that resistance is futile and they should acknowledge China's claimed historic rights to all of the South China Sea," Poling told Newsweek.
China's gray zone moves against the U.S. ally were not aimed at testing America's resolve, Poling said.
Beijing "doesn't have any better ideas," he said, arguing that its tactics were backfiring and pushing the Philippines — and others — closer to the United States.
Su Tzu-yun, a researcher at Taiwan's top military think tank, the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told Newsweek that Beijing had identified U.S.-skeptic elements in Manila as a potential vulnerability in what has become a "ring of containment" against China — led by the U.S. and featuring South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines.
The Chinese navy's submarines operate frequently in the depths of the South China Sea, Su said.
"The People's Liberation Army's activities not only test the bottom line of the U.S. military, but also use the U.S. military's presence to 'train' the PLA and protect the movements of its underwater fleet."
"It's like killing three birds with one stone," he said.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ch ... f6e1&ei=26
Re: CHINA
Light Wave Reports
"The $1.5 billion question: Biden family money ties to China deeper than thought, email indicates"
Story by Jake Beardslee
30 NOVEMBER 2023
According to FOX News reporter David Spunt, new evidence reveals a bank investigator in 2018 flagged “unusual” financial activity and transfers of large sums of money to Hunter Biden’s accounts.
The investigator suggested the bank reconsider its relationship with Biden.
As per a June 2018 email released by the House Oversight Committee, a bank official raised concerns about wire transfers totaling over $2.9 million from a Chinese firm to Biden’s law firm, Owasco PC.
The investigator wrote, “We find it unusual that approximately 58% of the funds were transferred to the law firm in a few months and the frequency of payments appear erratic.”
They added, “It was also previously indicated that HUDSON WEST III LLC does not currently have any investment projects at this time, which raises further concerns as millions in fees are being paid but does not appear to have any services rendered by Owasco PC.”
The investigator also referenced “negative news regarding the beneficial owner of Owasco PC, Robert Hunter Biden” about “allegations by his ex-wife that there were financial concerns about his extravagant spending.”
Furthermore, they noted recent news about “China targeting children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals,’” specifically citing Hunter Biden’s “$1.5 billion dollar deal with the Chinese-State.”
Given these concerns, the investigator concluded the activity was “unusual with no current business purpose” and suggested the bank “re-evaluate” its relationship with Biden.
According to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), the Chinese funds ultimately financed a $40,000 check to President Joe Biden labeled as a loan repayment from Biden’s brother James in 2017.
Comer stated that the newly revealed email shows the money laundering expert raised issues about Biden “long before” the committee’s investigation.
In response, Comer blasted “the White House and their Corporate Media allies’ efforts to excuse and cover up this blatant corruption,” calling their denials “appalling to the American people.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 247f&ei=64
"The $1.5 billion question: Biden family money ties to China deeper than thought, email indicates"
Story by Jake Beardslee
30 NOVEMBER 2023
According to FOX News reporter David Spunt, new evidence reveals a bank investigator in 2018 flagged “unusual” financial activity and transfers of large sums of money to Hunter Biden’s accounts.
The investigator suggested the bank reconsider its relationship with Biden.
As per a June 2018 email released by the House Oversight Committee, a bank official raised concerns about wire transfers totaling over $2.9 million from a Chinese firm to Biden’s law firm, Owasco PC.
The investigator wrote, “We find it unusual that approximately 58% of the funds were transferred to the law firm in a few months and the frequency of payments appear erratic.”
They added, “It was also previously indicated that HUDSON WEST III LLC does not currently have any investment projects at this time, which raises further concerns as millions in fees are being paid but does not appear to have any services rendered by Owasco PC.”
The investigator also referenced “negative news regarding the beneficial owner of Owasco PC, Robert Hunter Biden” about “allegations by his ex-wife that there were financial concerns about his extravagant spending.”
Furthermore, they noted recent news about “China targeting children of politicians and purchase of political influence through ‘sweetheart deals,’” specifically citing Hunter Biden’s “$1.5 billion dollar deal with the Chinese-State.”
Given these concerns, the investigator concluded the activity was “unusual with no current business purpose” and suggested the bank “re-evaluate” its relationship with Biden.
According to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), the Chinese funds ultimately financed a $40,000 check to President Joe Biden labeled as a loan repayment from Biden’s brother James in 2017.
Comer stated that the newly revealed email shows the money laundering expert raised issues about Biden “long before” the committee’s investigation.
In response, Comer blasted “the White House and their Corporate Media allies’ efforts to excuse and cover up this blatant corruption,” calling their denials “appalling to the American people.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 247f&ei=64
Re: CHINA
State Of The Union
"Just-Released Bank Records Show Joe Biden Received Monthly Payments from Hunter’s Business Entity"
Story by Claire O'Hare
6 DECEMBER 2023
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer claimed that a business operated by Hunter Biden made monthly payments to President Joe Biden, backed by a subpoenaed bank record showing funds flowing from Owaso PC to Joe Biden.
The committee alleges that Hunter Biden’s business account received payments from Chinese-state-linked companies and other foreign entities, implicating Joe Biden in his son’s business activities.
The panel also released an email expressing concerns over money from China going to Hunter Biden, raising questions about the Biden family’s business dealings.
Comer called for accountability, accusing the Bidens of corruption.
“Hunter Biden is currently under an investigation by the Department of Justice for using the Owasco PC corporate account for tax evasion and other serious crimes,” posted the committee to their website.
The release added that “Hunter Biden’s business account, Owasco PC, received payments from Chinese-state-linked companies and other foreign nationals and companies.”
“President Joe Biden claimed there was an ‘absolute wall’ between his official government duties and his family’s influence-peddling schemes."
"This was a lie,” said Rep. Comer.
“President Joe Biden claimed his family didn’t receive money from China."
"This was a lie."
"President Joe Biden claimed he never spoke to his son, Hunter Biden, about the Biden family’s shady business dealings."
"This was a lie,” charged Rep. Comer.
“Now, Hunter Biden’s legal team and the White House’s media allies claim Hunter’s corporate entities never made payments directly to Joe Biden,” he continued.
Adding, “We can officially add this latest talking point to the list of lies.”
“This wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from China and other shady corners of the world,” alleged Rep. Comer.
“We’ve revealed how Joe Biden received checks from his family that were funded by the Bidens’ influence peddling schemes — with China no less."
"The House Oversight Committee continues to investigate Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s domestic and international business schemes at a rapid pace,” explained the committee chair.
“President Biden and his family must be held accountable for this blatant corruption,” concluded Rep. Comer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 788d&ei=17
"Just-Released Bank Records Show Joe Biden Received Monthly Payments from Hunter’s Business Entity"
Story by Claire O'Hare
6 DECEMBER 2023
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer claimed that a business operated by Hunter Biden made monthly payments to President Joe Biden, backed by a subpoenaed bank record showing funds flowing from Owaso PC to Joe Biden.
The committee alleges that Hunter Biden’s business account received payments from Chinese-state-linked companies and other foreign entities, implicating Joe Biden in his son’s business activities.
The panel also released an email expressing concerns over money from China going to Hunter Biden, raising questions about the Biden family’s business dealings.
Comer called for accountability, accusing the Bidens of corruption.
“Hunter Biden is currently under an investigation by the Department of Justice for using the Owasco PC corporate account for tax evasion and other serious crimes,” posted the committee to their website.
The release added that “Hunter Biden’s business account, Owasco PC, received payments from Chinese-state-linked companies and other foreign nationals and companies.”
“President Joe Biden claimed there was an ‘absolute wall’ between his official government duties and his family’s influence-peddling schemes."
"This was a lie,” said Rep. Comer.
“President Joe Biden claimed his family didn’t receive money from China."
"This was a lie."
"President Joe Biden claimed he never spoke to his son, Hunter Biden, about the Biden family’s shady business dealings."
"This was a lie,” charged Rep. Comer.
“Now, Hunter Biden’s legal team and the White House’s media allies claim Hunter’s corporate entities never made payments directly to Joe Biden,” he continued.
Adding, “We can officially add this latest talking point to the list of lies.”
“This wasn’t a payment from Hunter Biden’s personal account but an account for his corporation that received payments from China and other shady corners of the world,” alleged Rep. Comer.
“We’ve revealed how Joe Biden received checks from his family that were funded by the Bidens’ influence peddling schemes — with China no less."
"The House Oversight Committee continues to investigate Joe Biden’s involvement in his family’s domestic and international business schemes at a rapid pace,” explained the committee chair.
“President Biden and his family must be held accountable for this blatant corruption,” concluded Rep. Comer.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 788d&ei=17
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"Chinese battery giant CATL hits back at Duke Energy disconnecting batteries"
Reuters
December 7, 2023
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Chinese battery giant CATL has hit back at U.S. utility firm Duke Energy's move to disconnect its batteries, saying that accusations about CATL batteries posing a potential security threat are false and misleading.
Business and products in the United States do not collect, sell, or share data in any way, the company said.
Products have passed rigorous safety and security reviews including those by U.S. authorities and businesses, it added.
Duke Energy said on Wednesday it had disconnected large-scale batteries made by CATL from North Carolina Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune after lawmakers and experts raised concerns about the battery supplier's close links to China's ruling Communist Party.
Reporting by Zhang Yan, Qiaoyi Li and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 023-12-07/
"Chinese battery giant CATL hits back at Duke Energy disconnecting batteries"
Reuters
December 7, 2023
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Chinese battery giant CATL has hit back at U.S. utility firm Duke Energy's move to disconnect its batteries, saying that accusations about CATL batteries posing a potential security threat are false and misleading.
Business and products in the United States do not collect, sell, or share data in any way, the company said.
Products have passed rigorous safety and security reviews including those by U.S. authorities and businesses, it added.
Duke Energy said on Wednesday it had disconnected large-scale batteries made by CATL from North Carolina Marine Corps base Camp Lejeune after lawmakers and experts raised concerns about the battery supplier's close links to China's ruling Communist Party.
Reporting by Zhang Yan, Qiaoyi Li and Brenda Goh; Editing by Jacqueline Wong
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy ... 023-12-07/
Re: CHINA
REUTERS
"China says Biden plan to shut it out of US battery supply chain violates WTO rules"
By Joe Cash
December 7, 2023
BEIJING, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China said on Thursday that Biden administration plans to limit Chinese content in batteries eligible for generous electric vehicle tax credits from next year violate international trade norms and will disrupt global supply chains.
The plans will make investors in the U.S. electric vehicle supply chain ineligible for tax credits should they use more than a trace amount of critical materials from China, or other countries deemed a "Foreign Entity of Concern" (FEOC).
"Targeting Chinese enterprises by excluding their products from a subsidy's scope is typical non-market orientated policy," said He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesperson.
"Many World Trade Organization members, including China, have expressed concern about the discriminatory policy of the U.S., which violates the WTO's basic principles," he said.
China's dominant position in the global battery supply chain has prompted United States and European officials to take action over fears that cheap Chinese EVs could flood their markets.
The European Commission is currently investigating whether Chinese manufacturers benefit from unfair state subsidies.
Washington has already passed two laws explicitly excluding investors from being able to benefit from a $6 billion allocation of tax credits for batteries and critical minerals, as well as subsidies of $7,500 for every new energy vehicle produced, should they include FEOCs in their supply chains.
The term applies to China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
The rules will come into effect in 2024 for completed batteries and 2025 for the critical minerals.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is also proposing tough criteria, including a 25% ownership threshold, for determining whether a company is controlled by a FEOC.
"By establishing 'glass barriers', the U.S. is doing more harm than good to the development of EV technologies and the industry more broadly," He said, warning that the plans would "seriously disrupt international trade and investment".
China accounts for almost two-thirds of the world's lithium processing capacity and 75% of its cobalt capacity, both of which are used in battery manufacturing.
Analysts, though, have questioned whether China's position in global battery supply chains warrants the U.S. and EU rhetoric over the potential risks.
"There is a lot of hyperbole around this."
" And I'm not sure the measures the EU or the U.S. are considering match the scale of the risk," said Dan Marks, a research fellow for energy security at the Royal United Services think tank.
"What we should be saying is these strategies in Europe and the U.S. are really industrial strategies."
"They're just about having competitive industries that can survive."
Reporting by Joe Cash and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Tom Hogue
https://www.reuters.com/technology/chin ... 023-12-07/
"China says Biden plan to shut it out of US battery supply chain violates WTO rules"
By Joe Cash
December 7, 2023
BEIJING, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China said on Thursday that Biden administration plans to limit Chinese content in batteries eligible for generous electric vehicle tax credits from next year violate international trade norms and will disrupt global supply chains.
The plans will make investors in the U.S. electric vehicle supply chain ineligible for tax credits should they use more than a trace amount of critical materials from China, or other countries deemed a "Foreign Entity of Concern" (FEOC).
"Targeting Chinese enterprises by excluding their products from a subsidy's scope is typical non-market orientated policy," said He Yadong, a commerce ministry spokesperson.
"Many World Trade Organization members, including China, have expressed concern about the discriminatory policy of the U.S., which violates the WTO's basic principles," he said.
China's dominant position in the global battery supply chain has prompted United States and European officials to take action over fears that cheap Chinese EVs could flood their markets.
The European Commission is currently investigating whether Chinese manufacturers benefit from unfair state subsidies.
Washington has already passed two laws explicitly excluding investors from being able to benefit from a $6 billion allocation of tax credits for batteries and critical minerals, as well as subsidies of $7,500 for every new energy vehicle produced, should they include FEOCs in their supply chains.
The term applies to China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.
The rules will come into effect in 2024 for completed batteries and 2025 for the critical minerals.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is also proposing tough criteria, including a 25% ownership threshold, for determining whether a company is controlled by a FEOC.
"By establishing 'glass barriers', the U.S. is doing more harm than good to the development of EV technologies and the industry more broadly," He said, warning that the plans would "seriously disrupt international trade and investment".
China accounts for almost two-thirds of the world's lithium processing capacity and 75% of its cobalt capacity, both of which are used in battery manufacturing.
Analysts, though, have questioned whether China's position in global battery supply chains warrants the U.S. and EU rhetoric over the potential risks.
"There is a lot of hyperbole around this."
" And I'm not sure the measures the EU or the U.S. are considering match the scale of the risk," said Dan Marks, a research fellow for energy security at the Royal United Services think tank.
"What we should be saying is these strategies in Europe and the U.S. are really industrial strategies."
"They're just about having competitive industries that can survive."
Reporting by Joe Cash and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Tom Hogue
https://www.reuters.com/technology/chin ... 023-12-07/
Re: CHINA
The Hill
"Opinion: The clouds on the horizon for America’s electric vehicle industry"
Opinion by Christine McDaniel, opinion contributor
9 DECEMBER 2023
With representatives from 197 countries gathered this week in Dubai to discuss ways to fight climate change, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a bill that would make the much-hyped energy transition a bit harder.
It’s a reminder of the difficult trade-offs facing U.S. policymakers.
Many bemoan the slow pace of climate progress.
Even with pledges, as the Council on Foreign Relations has noted, the world is not on track to meet its target of limiting warming to 1.5°C.
But electric vehicles, or EVs, have emerged as a bright spot in recent years.
As Apostolos Petropoulos of the International Energy Agency recently put it, “The game-changer has been the policy support for the shift to electrification quite substantially reducing oil demand from the transportation sector, which has been the key driver of global oil demand growth.”
The environmental good news partly rests on the fact that China is good at making batteries for electric cars, and they are willing to partner with U.S. firms.
Chinese-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., with its leading-edge technologies and well-developed supply chains, is the world’s leading EV battery maker with 37 percent market share in the first half of this year.
China is also a leading manufacturer of electric cars and is quickly getting them onto the road.
Last year, about one-third of new cars sold in China were electric compared to 9 percent in the United States.
CATL is also reportedly working on a battery that could power electric airplanes.
The bad news, from the standpoint of U.S. national security policymakers, is that China is the leader in making these batteries.
Washington does not want U.S. firms overly reliant on the communist nation and is increasingly restricting domestic electric carmakers from sourcing in China.
Case in point, on Dec. 1, the Biden administration released new guidance on eligibility for EV tax credits.
It aims to prevent these credits from bolstering sales of electric cars made in or reliant on China or other foreign entities of concern.
The guidance would classify such an entity as a company with at least 25 percent voting interest, board seats or equity interests held by the government of a covered nation (including a senior official of such a government), regardless of where the relevant activities occur.
Some licensing arrangements, such as what Ford has with CATL, might survive the policy.
Overall, the guidance appears to be less stringent than many industry participants had feared, but not stringent enough for others.
Rep. Michael Gallagher (R-Wisc.), head of the Select Committee on China, and other members of Congress said Treasury did not go far enough.
Rubio’s legislation goes even further and would block any of the federal incentives to automakers that offshore any of their production.
From a business perspective, it will already be incredibly tough to meet the newly announced China sourcing restrictions, let alone what’s on the horizon if Rubio’s legislation comes to pass.
The fact is there is no commercially viable way to build an EV battery — now, or in the near future — without some Chinese content.
It will take several years if not decades to build out new supply chains, and U.S. production of key EV battery inputs like graphite, lithium, nickel and cobalt is simply unrealistic without a now-absent will to tolerate more domestic mining and refining.
Meanwhile, the U.S. faces a chicken-and-egg problem with EV charging stations.
The longer it takes to make affordable and reliable electric cars, the less enthusiasm there will be to build out the needed EV charging station infrastructure across the country.
Without new trade deals with source countries for raw materials or a “minerals club” among advanced economies and potential raw materials exporters, it may be prohibitively expensive to realize Biden’s electric car goals.
But, as witnessed at the trade summit last month in the Indo-Pacific, not many countries are willing to sign on to the overly prescriptive labor regulations that many in Congress seek.
To speed up the EV transformation, deals might need to be made with countries that lack the labor protections, environmental standards and social standards that some in Congress want to hold out for.
Christine McDaniel is a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 4541&ei=77
"Opinion: The clouds on the horizon for America’s electric vehicle industry"
Opinion by Christine McDaniel, opinion contributor
9 DECEMBER 2023
With representatives from 197 countries gathered this week in Dubai to discuss ways to fight climate change, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced a bill that would make the much-hyped energy transition a bit harder.
It’s a reminder of the difficult trade-offs facing U.S. policymakers.
Many bemoan the slow pace of climate progress.
Even with pledges, as the Council on Foreign Relations has noted, the world is not on track to meet its target of limiting warming to 1.5°C.
But electric vehicles, or EVs, have emerged as a bright spot in recent years.
As Apostolos Petropoulos of the International Energy Agency recently put it, “The game-changer has been the policy support for the shift to electrification quite substantially reducing oil demand from the transportation sector, which has been the key driver of global oil demand growth.”
The environmental good news partly rests on the fact that China is good at making batteries for electric cars, and they are willing to partner with U.S. firms.
Chinese-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., with its leading-edge technologies and well-developed supply chains, is the world’s leading EV battery maker with 37 percent market share in the first half of this year.
China is also a leading manufacturer of electric cars and is quickly getting them onto the road.
Last year, about one-third of new cars sold in China were electric compared to 9 percent in the United States.
CATL is also reportedly working on a battery that could power electric airplanes.
The bad news, from the standpoint of U.S. national security policymakers, is that China is the leader in making these batteries.
Washington does not want U.S. firms overly reliant on the communist nation and is increasingly restricting domestic electric carmakers from sourcing in China.
Case in point, on Dec. 1, the Biden administration released new guidance on eligibility for EV tax credits.
It aims to prevent these credits from bolstering sales of electric cars made in or reliant on China or other foreign entities of concern.
The guidance would classify such an entity as a company with at least 25 percent voting interest, board seats or equity interests held by the government of a covered nation (including a senior official of such a government), regardless of where the relevant activities occur.
Some licensing arrangements, such as what Ford has with CATL, might survive the policy.
Overall, the guidance appears to be less stringent than many industry participants had feared, but not stringent enough for others.
Rep. Michael Gallagher (R-Wisc.), head of the Select Committee on China, and other members of Congress said Treasury did not go far enough.
Rubio’s legislation goes even further and would block any of the federal incentives to automakers that offshore any of their production.
From a business perspective, it will already be incredibly tough to meet the newly announced China sourcing restrictions, let alone what’s on the horizon if Rubio’s legislation comes to pass.
The fact is there is no commercially viable way to build an EV battery — now, or in the near future — without some Chinese content.
It will take several years if not decades to build out new supply chains, and U.S. production of key EV battery inputs like graphite, lithium, nickel and cobalt is simply unrealistic without a now-absent will to tolerate more domestic mining and refining.
Meanwhile, the U.S. faces a chicken-and-egg problem with EV charging stations.
The longer it takes to make affordable and reliable electric cars, the less enthusiasm there will be to build out the needed EV charging station infrastructure across the country.
Without new trade deals with source countries for raw materials or a “minerals club” among advanced economies and potential raw materials exporters, it may be prohibitively expensive to realize Biden’s electric car goals.
But, as witnessed at the trade summit last month in the Indo-Pacific, not many countries are willing to sign on to the overly prescriptive labor regulations that many in Congress seek.
To speed up the EV transformation, deals might need to be made with countries that lack the labor protections, environmental standards and social standards that some in Congress want to hold out for.
Christine McDaniel is a senior research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 4541&ei=77