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The Semiconductor Heist Of The Century | Arm China Has Gone Completely Rogue, Operating As An Independent Company With Inhouse IP/R&D
AI Arm Logic Mobile
The Semiconductor Heist Of The Century | Arm China Has Gone Completely Rogue, Operating As An Independent Company With Inhouse IP/R&D
August 27, 2021 Dylan Patel 6 Comments Allen Wu, Arm, China, ISP, NPU, Nvidia, Softbank, SPU, VPU
Arm is widely regarded as the most important semiconductor IP firm. Their IP ships in billions of new chips every year from phones, cars, microcontrollers, Amazon servers, and even Intel’s latest IPU. Originally it was a British owned and headquartered company, but SoftBank acquired the firm in 2016. They proceeded to plow money into Arm Limited to develop deep pushes into the internet of things, automotive, and server. Part of their push was also to go hard into China and become the dominant CPU supplier in all segments of the market.
As part of the emphasis on the Chinese market, SoftBank succumbed to pressure and formed a joint venture. In the new joint venture, Arm Limited, the SoftBank subsidiary sold a 51% stake of the company to a consortium of Chinese investors for paltry $775M. This venture has the exclusive right to distribute Arm’s IP within China. Within 2 years, the venture went rogue. Technically it has always been legally independent, but Arm still maintained control. Recently, they gave a presentation to the industry about rebranding their own IP, extending it by developing more, and emphasizing that they are striking their own independently operated path.
This firm is called “安谋科技”, but it is not part of Arm Limited.
This is the tech heist of the century.
Before we get to the event they held and the significance of it, let’s do a recap. In 2020, Arm and a handful of the investors agreed to oust Allen Wu, the CEO of Arm China. He was ousted for using his position as the CEO of Arm to attract investments in his own firm, Alphatecture. Examples such as the following and more can be found here.
Mr Wu had offered discounts to Arm China customers in exchange for their investment in Alphatecture
Removing Allen Wu has proven to be very difficult. Despite a 7-1 vote by the Arm China board, the company seal was still held by Allen Wu. In China, the seal/chop is a stamp which authorizes the person in possession to bind a company and its representatives with rights and obligations. Retrieving this seal and the business license would be a multiyear drawn-out legal process. Furthermore, it would mean at least some investors besides Arm must be along for the ride. Currently other investors still agree with ousting Allen Wu. The Chinese court system would also need to agree with ousting an executive in favor of one that was hand selected by western influencers.
Despite formally being fired, Allen Wu has remained in power. He ousted executives that were loyal to Arm. He has even hired security paid for by Arm China that reports to him. This security has kept Arm out of the Arm China offices. Allen Wu has aggressively taken over the firm and is operating it how he sees fit. One interesting tidbit is that Allen Wu sued Arm China in order to declare his dismissal illegal. He essentially sued himself as he represented both sides in that specific court case.
Arm has halted the transfer of any IP to entities on export control list. According to Arm, no IP has been stolen. Simultaneously, Arm has also tried to appeal to the government stating that this is bad for the Chinese semiconductor industry.
This leads us to the present day, where Arm China held an event at which they formally declared their independence. They proclaimed that 安谋科技 is China’s largest CPU IP supplier. It was born from Arm, but is an independently operate, Chinese owned company.
The event comprised of cheering on 安谋科技 business. Some of the fanfare was emphasizing that 安谋科技 had a cumulative 20B shipments since formation. It has over 90 partners, 29 of which have achieved mass production of chips using the IP. These shipments range from mobile, network infrastructure, 5G and IoT. They were developed by the company’s 400+ person R&D team that is based entirely in China.
Besides standing out and calling themselves an independent entity, they also announced and rebranded IP which was independently developed. It is called the Power Core line and it goes under the XPU title. The IP blocks include NPUs, SPUs, ISPs, and VPUs, but they made it clear they will extend beyond this.
The NPU, neural processing unit, is especially interesting because Arm itself has also developed a range of AI geared IP. 安谋科技 is forging ahead to have an inhouse source of IP and reduce reliance on Arm Limited. This is just the beginning, and who knows where 安谋科技 goes from here. Perhaps they even begin working on their own CPU cores, GPU, and server designs.
Most of this IP is targeted at mobile or IoT type use cases. The SPU, security processing unit, is specifically geared to creating secure enclaves and being a management engine. The ISP, image signal processor, is meant to take inputs from cameras and process them into a digital form. It applies various techniques and operations to enhance the raw images. The ISP is geared to work with the NPU to analyze images and videos in order to identify people, objects, and events. These IP blocks are critical for emerging applications which will deploy billions of cameras in China over the next decade. Lastly, there is the video processing unit which is meant to encode and decode videos in common formats such as H264, VP9, and soon AV1.
Arm China, 安谋科技, is asserting their independence. It is the most publicized instance of a joint venture in China going rogue, but also the most dangerous one. The Arm China board is not in agreeance with Allen Wu, but he still holds power despite his formal removal. Minority stake joint ventures have had control wrestled away from the parent company, but this may be the most brazen attempt yet.
Arm has been shaken to its core with the 2nd largest market snatched from underneath it. According to Arm, no IP has been stolen, but Arm cannot license directly license to any firm in China. They must go through 安谋科技.
Only the rouge Arm China entity controlled by Allen Wu can create agreements for licensing Arm IP in china. While Arm is the largest individual owner in this firm, they have no control or power over the operations. 安谋科技 has set out on its own path with its own IP. The base of Arm’s IP is not the end of their line. There are many questions swirling about what this means for a potential Nvidia takeover or IPO, but it is clear that SoftBank’s short sighted profit driven behavior has caused a massive conundrum.
Update 8/31/21: Emphasizing that IP has not been stolen or stopped according to Arm, SemiAnalysis maintains that a heist has occurred regarding control of the Arm China entity.
AI Arm Logic Mobile
The Semiconductor Heist Of The Century | Arm China Has Gone Completely Rogue, Operating As An Independent Company With Inhouse IP/R&D
August 27, 2021 Dylan Patel 6 Comments Allen Wu, Arm, China, ISP, NPU, Nvidia, Softbank, SPU, VPU
Arm is widely regarded as the most important semiconductor IP firm. Their IP ships in billions of new chips every year from phones, cars, microcontrollers, Amazon servers, and even Intel’s latest IPU. Originally it was a British owned and headquartered company, but SoftBank acquired the firm in 2016. They proceeded to plow money into Arm Limited to develop deep pushes into the internet of things, automotive, and server. Part of their push was also to go hard into China and become the dominant CPU supplier in all segments of the market.
As part of the emphasis on the Chinese market, SoftBank succumbed to pressure and formed a joint venture. In the new joint venture, Arm Limited, the SoftBank subsidiary sold a 51% stake of the company to a consortium of Chinese investors for paltry $775M. This venture has the exclusive right to distribute Arm’s IP within China. Within 2 years, the venture went rogue. Technically it has always been legally independent, but Arm still maintained control. Recently, they gave a presentation to the industry about rebranding their own IP, extending it by developing more, and emphasizing that they are striking their own independently operated path.
This firm is called “安谋科技”, but it is not part of Arm Limited.
This is the tech heist of the century.
Before we get to the event they held and the significance of it, let’s do a recap. In 2020, Arm and a handful of the investors agreed to oust Allen Wu, the CEO of Arm China. He was ousted for using his position as the CEO of Arm to attract investments in his own firm, Alphatecture. Examples such as the following and more can be found here.
Mr Wu had offered discounts to Arm China customers in exchange for their investment in Alphatecture
Removing Allen Wu has proven to be very difficult. Despite a 7-1 vote by the Arm China board, the company seal was still held by Allen Wu. In China, the seal/chop is a stamp which authorizes the person in possession to bind a company and its representatives with rights and obligations. Retrieving this seal and the business license would be a multiyear drawn-out legal process. Furthermore, it would mean at least some investors besides Arm must be along for the ride. Currently other investors still agree with ousting Allen Wu. The Chinese court system would also need to agree with ousting an executive in favor of one that was hand selected by western influencers.
Despite formally being fired, Allen Wu has remained in power. He ousted executives that were loyal to Arm. He has even hired security paid for by Arm China that reports to him. This security has kept Arm out of the Arm China offices. Allen Wu has aggressively taken over the firm and is operating it how he sees fit. One interesting tidbit is that Allen Wu sued Arm China in order to declare his dismissal illegal. He essentially sued himself as he represented both sides in that specific court case.
Arm has halted the transfer of any IP to entities on export control list. According to Arm, no IP has been stolen. Simultaneously, Arm has also tried to appeal to the government stating that this is bad for the Chinese semiconductor industry.
This leads us to the present day, where Arm China held an event at which they formally declared their independence. They proclaimed that 安谋科技 is China’s largest CPU IP supplier. It was born from Arm, but is an independently operate, Chinese owned company.
The event comprised of cheering on 安谋科技 business. Some of the fanfare was emphasizing that 安谋科技 had a cumulative 20B shipments since formation. It has over 90 partners, 29 of which have achieved mass production of chips using the IP. These shipments range from mobile, network infrastructure, 5G and IoT. They were developed by the company’s 400+ person R&D team that is based entirely in China.
Besides standing out and calling themselves an independent entity, they also announced and rebranded IP which was independently developed. It is called the Power Core line and it goes under the XPU title. The IP blocks include NPUs, SPUs, ISPs, and VPUs, but they made it clear they will extend beyond this.
The NPU, neural processing unit, is especially interesting because Arm itself has also developed a range of AI geared IP. 安谋科技 is forging ahead to have an inhouse source of IP and reduce reliance on Arm Limited. This is just the beginning, and who knows where 安谋科技 goes from here. Perhaps they even begin working on their own CPU cores, GPU, and server designs.
Most of this IP is targeted at mobile or IoT type use cases. The SPU, security processing unit, is specifically geared to creating secure enclaves and being a management engine. The ISP, image signal processor, is meant to take inputs from cameras and process them into a digital form. It applies various techniques and operations to enhance the raw images. The ISP is geared to work with the NPU to analyze images and videos in order to identify people, objects, and events. These IP blocks are critical for emerging applications which will deploy billions of cameras in China over the next decade. Lastly, there is the video processing unit which is meant to encode and decode videos in common formats such as H264, VP9, and soon AV1.
Arm China, 安谋科技, is asserting their independence. It is the most publicized instance of a joint venture in China going rogue, but also the most dangerous one. The Arm China board is not in agreeance with Allen Wu, but he still holds power despite his formal removal. Minority stake joint ventures have had control wrestled away from the parent company, but this may be the most brazen attempt yet.
Arm has been shaken to its core with the 2nd largest market snatched from underneath it. According to Arm, no IP has been stolen, but Arm cannot license directly license to any firm in China. They must go through 安谋科技.
Only the rouge Arm China entity controlled by Allen Wu can create agreements for licensing Arm IP in china. While Arm is the largest individual owner in this firm, they have no control or power over the operations. 安谋科技 has set out on its own path with its own IP. The base of Arm’s IP is not the end of their line. There are many questions swirling about what this means for a potential Nvidia takeover or IPO, but it is clear that SoftBank’s short sighted profit driven behavior has caused a massive conundrum.
Update 8/31/21: Emphasizing that IP has not been stolen or stopped according to Arm, SemiAnalysis maintains that a heist has occurred regarding control of the Arm China entity.
businessinsider.com
US-China tensions are getting even worse under Biden. UBS breaks down how the conflict is affecting tech and 7 other key investment themes, and tells investors how they can capitalize on the outcomes
Marley Jay
7-9 minutes
With most of 2021 now in the books, UBS' global wealth management unit is reminding investors that they need to look forward and make a plan instead of hoping relations between the world's largest economies will go back to the way they once were.
"For investors who were expecting the Biden administration to press the "reset" button in US-China relations, 2021 has turned out to be shockingly disappointing," wrote UBS' Solita Marcelli and Min Lin Tan. Marcelli is the office's chief investment officer for the Americas, and Tan is the CIO for the Asia-Pacific region.
But Marcelli and Tan say investors also shouldn't treat those developments as the start of a new Cold War or a looming economic split. Instead, they need to take advantage of the opportunities that this thornier relationship creates and set up defenses against its risks.
"Seeking exposure to the different economic cycles, growth opportunities, and sectoral trends of both the US and China and beyond will best serve portfolios in the years ahead," they wrote.
With the expectation that the two countries will continue to collaborate at times and remain economically entangled even as tensions and competition rise, they broke the US-China tensions into the following investment themes.
(1) Technology
Marcelli and Tan say greater competition might be good news for chip stocks even though it would make them even more volatile than they already are. But it would also give investors a chance to invest in both sides of the US-China rivalry as the two countries develop competing technology companies and industries.
"A bipolar technology race between the US and China would provide opportunities in other areas like software and data centers in both countries," they wrote. "As both sides compete in establishing the best communications networks, world-leading 5G, artificial intelligence, and enabling technology providers outlined in our corresponding long-term investment themes are poised to benefit."
(2) Cybersecurity
There's little cooperation and growing hostility between the two countries when it comes to cybersecurity as allegations of hacking and privacy violations increase and the US and China grow more reluctant to use each other's high-tech services. A big increase in hacks and breaches could harm economic growth
But Marcelli and Tan say investors shouldn't get too focused on just the US and China in that regard, and that the sector is a defensive one that could provide some stability to portfolios.
"Along with US and Chinese names, investors should diversify and consider additional vendors in Europe, Japan, and Korea," they said. "With businesses currently under-invested in cybersecurity, capital spending should continue to grow at a healthy pace of 10% a year."
(3) Trade
Even if the trade war talk has cooled off, the tensions at its root are still there. The US is frustrated with China's technology policies, its support of domestic companies, and its handling of the yuan, and China objects to US restrictions on exports and the tariffs of the last few years.
If things get worse, it will be especially bad news for industrials, materials, and technology, according to UBS.
"Safe-haven currencies such as the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen would likely appreciate alongside gold," wrote Marcelli and Tan. "High-quality bonds have offered some protection in the past, but they may be a less effective hedge today as interest rates are close to all-time lows."
(4) Supply chains
While UBS doesn't think the US is anywhere near eliminating China from its supply chains, manufacturing of clothing and other low-margin items has been moving out of China for years, and bigger-ticket items are starting to follow suit in the wake of the trade dispute and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CIOs say companies won't cut China out if it's going to cost them money and their base case is that it won't affect investors much.
"Some US companies, especially in smartphones, will find it difficult to diversify away from China at all," they rote. "We assume that companies will not shift supply chains if it will have a detrimental effect on long-term profit growth. However, a scenario whereby US and China decouple more abruptly could be disruptive and costly."
(5) Capital
According to reports, Beijing is preparing to restrict Chinese companies that have access to sensitive data from listing on US stock exchanges. UBS says investors in the US will still be able to get access to Chinese equities and vice versa and that it's wise to maintain exposure to both.
But they don't have to stop there. If they're especially worried about China's crackdown on internet platforms, they can avoid that industry by investing in A shares of companies listed in China. Or they can diversify further by investing in an all-Asia-ex-Japan stock index, as those indexes weight China heavily. There's also the bond market option.
"Asian high yield bonds denominated in US dollars, many of which are from Chinese issuers, are currently among the few cheap segments in fixed income, at yields in excess of 7%," they wrote.
(6) Monetary framework
While talking heads have long worried about a more aggressive asset dispute — with China potentially devaluing its currency more dramatically, or slashing its US debt holdings — Marcelli and Tan say they doubt that will happen.
"The economic and financial linkages between the US and China are sizable, and the possibility of disruptive measures from either side would likely be deterred by the recognition that this would inflict a severe backlash," they wrote.
They add that the US dollar isn't going to lose its status as the world's reserve currency, but China's yuan will get stronger. That makes investing in Chinese assets a good idea because that will position them to benefit.
(7) Geopolitics
"Geopolitics" might be the vaguest and scariest threat on Wall Street because it can encompass almost any development outside of the typical scope of what investors focus on.
UBS says that investors can expect US-China tensions over human rights and China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, but an invasion of Taiwan is far less likely. For investors who are worried that those tensions might boil over, they suggest "safe-haven currencies such as the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen, as well as gold positions."
(8) Climate
Finally, there's at least one area of relative harmony. Both nations have committed to ambitious emissions-reduction goals, and Marcelli and Tan say the US and China will help each other reach those targets and develop new technologies that help other countries do the same.
Still, there are tensions that could affect the solar power and energy storage industries.
"The US has banned the import of polysilicon produced in Xinjiang province, which accounts for half of the global supply, while China proposed export restrictions on rare earth minerals, of which it accounts for around 80% of the global supply," UBS said.
It say US companies are the leaders in energy efficiency, and China leads in the solar power industry and manufacturing of electric car batteries.
US-China tensions are getting even worse under Biden. UBS breaks down how the conflict is affecting tech and 7 other key investment themes, and tells investors how they can capitalize on the outcomes
Marley Jay
7-9 minutes
- UBS says US-China relations remain tense, a huge disappointment to some investors.
- Its global wealth management unit is explaining how investors can handle eight major issues.
- The firm's US and Asia investment chiefs recommend broad geographic exposure.
With most of 2021 now in the books, UBS' global wealth management unit is reminding investors that they need to look forward and make a plan instead of hoping relations between the world's largest economies will go back to the way they once were.
"For investors who were expecting the Biden administration to press the "reset" button in US-China relations, 2021 has turned out to be shockingly disappointing," wrote UBS' Solita Marcelli and Min Lin Tan. Marcelli is the office's chief investment officer for the Americas, and Tan is the CIO for the Asia-Pacific region.
But Marcelli and Tan say investors also shouldn't treat those developments as the start of a new Cold War or a looming economic split. Instead, they need to take advantage of the opportunities that this thornier relationship creates and set up defenses against its risks.
"Seeking exposure to the different economic cycles, growth opportunities, and sectoral trends of both the US and China and beyond will best serve portfolios in the years ahead," they wrote.
With the expectation that the two countries will continue to collaborate at times and remain economically entangled even as tensions and competition rise, they broke the US-China tensions into the following investment themes.
(1) Technology
Marcelli and Tan say greater competition might be good news for chip stocks even though it would make them even more volatile than they already are. But it would also give investors a chance to invest in both sides of the US-China rivalry as the two countries develop competing technology companies and industries.
"A bipolar technology race between the US and China would provide opportunities in other areas like software and data centers in both countries," they wrote. "As both sides compete in establishing the best communications networks, world-leading 5G, artificial intelligence, and enabling technology providers outlined in our corresponding long-term investment themes are poised to benefit."
(2) Cybersecurity
There's little cooperation and growing hostility between the two countries when it comes to cybersecurity as allegations of hacking and privacy violations increase and the US and China grow more reluctant to use each other's high-tech services. A big increase in hacks and breaches could harm economic growth
But Marcelli and Tan say investors shouldn't get too focused on just the US and China in that regard, and that the sector is a defensive one that could provide some stability to portfolios.
"Along with US and Chinese names, investors should diversify and consider additional vendors in Europe, Japan, and Korea," they said. "With businesses currently under-invested in cybersecurity, capital spending should continue to grow at a healthy pace of 10% a year."
(3) Trade
Even if the trade war talk has cooled off, the tensions at its root are still there. The US is frustrated with China's technology policies, its support of domestic companies, and its handling of the yuan, and China objects to US restrictions on exports and the tariffs of the last few years.
If things get worse, it will be especially bad news for industrials, materials, and technology, according to UBS.
"Safe-haven currencies such as the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen would likely appreciate alongside gold," wrote Marcelli and Tan. "High-quality bonds have offered some protection in the past, but they may be a less effective hedge today as interest rates are close to all-time lows."
(4) Supply chains
While UBS doesn't think the US is anywhere near eliminating China from its supply chains, manufacturing of clothing and other low-margin items has been moving out of China for years, and bigger-ticket items are starting to follow suit in the wake of the trade dispute and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CIOs say companies won't cut China out if it's going to cost them money and their base case is that it won't affect investors much.
"Some US companies, especially in smartphones, will find it difficult to diversify away from China at all," they rote. "We assume that companies will not shift supply chains if it will have a detrimental effect on long-term profit growth. However, a scenario whereby US and China decouple more abruptly could be disruptive and costly."
(5) Capital
According to reports, Beijing is preparing to restrict Chinese companies that have access to sensitive data from listing on US stock exchanges. UBS says investors in the US will still be able to get access to Chinese equities and vice versa and that it's wise to maintain exposure to both.
But they don't have to stop there. If they're especially worried about China's crackdown on internet platforms, they can avoid that industry by investing in A shares of companies listed in China. Or they can diversify further by investing in an all-Asia-ex-Japan stock index, as those indexes weight China heavily. There's also the bond market option.
"Asian high yield bonds denominated in US dollars, many of which are from Chinese issuers, are currently among the few cheap segments in fixed income, at yields in excess of 7%," they wrote.
(6) Monetary framework
While talking heads have long worried about a more aggressive asset dispute — with China potentially devaluing its currency more dramatically, or slashing its US debt holdings — Marcelli and Tan say they doubt that will happen.
"The economic and financial linkages between the US and China are sizable, and the possibility of disruptive measures from either side would likely be deterred by the recognition that this would inflict a severe backlash," they wrote.
They add that the US dollar isn't going to lose its status as the world's reserve currency, but China's yuan will get stronger. That makes investing in Chinese assets a good idea because that will position them to benefit.
(7) Geopolitics
"Geopolitics" might be the vaguest and scariest threat on Wall Street because it can encompass almost any development outside of the typical scope of what investors focus on.
UBS says that investors can expect US-China tensions over human rights and China's territorial claims in the South China Sea, but an invasion of Taiwan is far less likely. For investors who are worried that those tensions might boil over, they suggest "safe-haven currencies such as the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen, as well as gold positions."
(8) Climate
Finally, there's at least one area of relative harmony. Both nations have committed to ambitious emissions-reduction goals, and Marcelli and Tan say the US and China will help each other reach those targets and develop new technologies that help other countries do the same.
Still, there are tensions that could affect the solar power and energy storage industries.
"The US has banned the import of polysilicon produced in Xinjiang province, which accounts for half of the global supply, while China proposed export restrictions on rare earth minerals, of which it accounts for around 80% of the global supply," UBS said.
It say US companies are the leaders in energy efficiency, and China leads in the solar power industry and manufacturing of electric car batteries.
CIA considers establishing stand-alone China mission center, report claims
August 13, 2021 by Ian Allen Leave a comment
CIA headquarters
" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://intelligencenews.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/first-post-h5.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://intelligencenews.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/first-post-h5.jpg?w=629" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-15399" src="https://intelligencenews.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/first-post-h5.jpg?w=630" alt="CIA headquarters" style="-x-ignore: 1">
THE UNITED STATES CENTRAL Intelligence Agency is weighing the possibility of establishing a stand-alone mission center that would focus on China, according to a new report. Traditionally, questions regarding China have fallen under the agency’s Mission Center for East Asia and Pacific, which focuses on the broader geographical region that includes China. However, according to the Bloomberg news agency, that may about to change.
Quoting “three current and former officials” with knowledge of “internal deliberations” at the CIA, Bloomberg said on Thursday that the proposal to establish a stand-alone China mission center orginages from the agency’s new director, William Burns. According to the report, Burns is looking for ways to “make it easier to secure headcount, funding and high-level attention for [the spy agency’s] China-related activities”.
A stand-alone China mission center would allow the CIA to utilize and combine diverse resources across its various directorates and units. Additionally, elevating the topic of China to a stand-alone mission would reflect the policy priorities of the administration of US President Joe Biden, said Bloomberg. The report comes less than a month after Burns said during an interview that the CIA might deploy China specialists at US government facilities around the world. This would mirror the agency’s approach to the challenge posed by Soviet Union during the Cold War.
During his Senate confirmation hearing in February of this year, Burns stated that he viewed China as the most serious threat to American national security in the near and long term. He added that China’s “adversarial [and] predatory leadership” aimed to “replace the United States as the world’s most powerful and influential nation”.
► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 13 August 2021 | Permalink
August 13, 2021 by Ian Allen Leave a comment
CIA headquarters
" data-image-caption="" data-medium-file="https://intelligencenews.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/first-post-h5.jpg?w=300" data-large-file="https://intelligencenews.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/first-post-h5.jpg?w=629" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-15399" src="https://intelligencenews.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/first-post-h5.jpg?w=630" alt="CIA headquarters" style="-x-ignore: 1">
THE UNITED STATES CENTRAL Intelligence Agency is weighing the possibility of establishing a stand-alone mission center that would focus on China, according to a new report. Traditionally, questions regarding China have fallen under the agency’s Mission Center for East Asia and Pacific, which focuses on the broader geographical region that includes China. However, according to the Bloomberg news agency, that may about to change.
Quoting “three current and former officials” with knowledge of “internal deliberations” at the CIA, Bloomberg said on Thursday that the proposal to establish a stand-alone China mission center orginages from the agency’s new director, William Burns. According to the report, Burns is looking for ways to “make it easier to secure headcount, funding and high-level attention for [the spy agency’s] China-related activities”.
A stand-alone China mission center would allow the CIA to utilize and combine diverse resources across its various directorates and units. Additionally, elevating the topic of China to a stand-alone mission would reflect the policy priorities of the administration of US President Joe Biden, said Bloomberg. The report comes less than a month after Burns said during an interview that the CIA might deploy China specialists at US government facilities around the world. This would mirror the agency’s approach to the challenge posed by Soviet Union during the Cold War.
During his Senate confirmation hearing in February of this year, Burns stated that he viewed China as the most serious threat to American national security in the near and long term. He added that China’s “adversarial [and] predatory leadership” aimed to “replace the United States as the world’s most powerful and influential nation”.
► Author: Ian Allen | Date: 13 August 2021 | Permalink
ADevilYouKhow
Rhyme Reason
they can't keep just doing this, can they? theres gotta be some backlash at some point?!
Biden announces a defense deal with Australia in a bid to counter China.
Biden announces a defense deal with Australia in a bid to counter China.
Image
President Biden spoke Wednesday about a new initiative with Britain and Australia to add to the Western presence in the Pacific.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration took a major step on Wednesday in challenging China’s broad territorial claims in the Pacific, announcing that the United States and Britain would help Australia to deploy nuclear-powered submarines, adding to the Western presence in the region.
If the plan, announced on Wednesday by President Biden, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, comes to fruition, Australia may be conducting routine patrols that could sail through areas of the South China Sea that Beijing now claims as its own exclusive zone, and range as far north as Taiwan. The announcement is a major step for Australia, which until recent years has been hesitant to push back directly at core Chinese interests.
“This is about investing in our greatest source of strength, our alliances and updating them to better meet the threats of today and tomorrow,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s about connecting America’s existing allies and partners in new ways.”
Australia has felt increasingly threatened, and three years ago was among the first nations to ban Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, from its networks. Now, with the prospect of deploying a new submarine fleet, with nuclear propulsion systems that offer limitless range and run so quietly that they are hard to detect, Australia would become a far more muscular player in the American-led alliance in the Pacific. And for Mr. Johnson, the new defense arrangement would bolster his effort to develop a new “Global Britain” strategy that focuses on the Pacific, the next step after Brexit took the country out of the European Union.
American officials said Australia had committed never to arm the submarines with nuclear weapons; they would almost certainly carry conventional, submarine-launched cruise missiles. Australia is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which bans it from acquiring or deploying nuclear weapons. Yet even conventionally-armed submarines, manned by Australian sailors, could alter the naval balance of power balance in the Pacific.
“Attack submarines are big deal, and they send a big message,’’ said Vipin Narang, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who studies the use of nuclear weapons and delivery systems in great-power competition. “This would be hard to imagine 5 years ago. And it would have been impossible 10 years ago. And that says a lot about China’s behavior in the region.”
The announcement is the latest in a series of actions by Mr. Biden, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan and his Asia coordinator, Kurt Campbell, to design a strategy that pushes back on Chinese economic, military and technological expansionism. Over the past eight months they have blocked China from acquiring key technologies, including materials for semiconductor production; urged nations to reject Huawei; edged toward closer dealings with Taiwan and denounced China’s crackdown on Hong Kong. Next week Mr. Biden will gather the leaders of “the Quad” — an informal partnership of the United States, Japan, India and Australia — at the White House for an in-person meeting, another way to demonstrate common resolve in dealing with Beijing.
Mr. Biden spoke with President Xi Jinping of China last week for roughly 90 minutes, only the second time the two leaders have spoken in since Mr. Biden took office. Few details of the conversation were revealed, so it is unclear if Mr. Biden gave his Chinese counterpart warning of the move with Australia. But none of it would have come as a surprise to Beijing; earlier the Australians had announced a deal with France for less technologically sophisticated submarines. That deal collapsed.
Nonetheless, the decision to share the technology for naval reactors, even to a close ally, was a major move for Mr. Biden — one bound to raise protests by the Chinese and questions from American allies and nonproliferation experts. The United States last shared the nuclear propulsion technology with an ally in 1958 in a similar agreement with the United Kingdom, administration officials said.
“There is a shared understanding that we need to strengthen deterrence and actually be prepared to fight a conflict if one occurs,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund, a policy think tank. “It reflects growing concern about Chinese military capabilities and intentions.”
The nuclear reactors that power American and British submarines use bomb-grade, highly-enriched uranium, a remnant of Cold War-era designs. And for two decades Washington has been on a drive to eliminate reactors around the world that use bomb-grade fuel, substituting them with less dangerous fuel in an effort to limit the risk of proliferation.
The movement gained momentum after the Sept. 11 attacks, and President Barack Obama ran a series of “nuclear summits,” drawing leaders from around the world, that were used to pressure nations to take old reactors that use highly-enriched uranium out of service, so that the fuel could never fall into the hands of terrorists.
But the new arrangement with Australia seems almost sure to move in the other direction: Australia will almost certainly power its submarines with highly-enriched uranium, because for now there is little other choice. Aware of the contradiction, administration officials cast the decision as an “exception,” though one they would not make for other major allies, including South Korea, which in decades past was caught moving toward building its own nuclear arsenal. Australia has been a leader in the nonproliferation movement.
“We last did this 70 years ago,’’ a senior administration official deeply involved in the negotiations over the deal said on Wednesday. “After today, it’s not likely we will do it again.”
Officials said that the details will be worked out over the next 18 months, including strict controls on nuclear technology. They said Australia had already agreed not to produce the highly-enriched fuel, meaning it will almost certainly be buying it from American stockpiles.
The United States has explored moving away from highly-enriched uranium. A study by the Pentagon’s top nuclear advisory group concluded in 2019 that the U.S. should shift to reactors that burn low-enriched uranium, which cannot be easily diverted to use in weapons. But that process, the experts concluded, could not begin until after 2040.
“There will be many who say we are giving the Australians a gateway drug for a nuclear capability,’’ Mr. Narang said. “It is not something we would let other major allies get away with, much less help make it possible.”
But China’s aggressive tactics in the Pacific and the need to ensure the security around Taiwan required the United States to empower Australia, even if it meant carving an exception to the effort to reduce the use of weapons-grade nuclear fuel, according to Elbridge Colby, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense strategy and force development
Australia has, for more than seven decades, been a member of the “Five Eyes,’’ the intelligence alliance that includes the major English-speaking victors of World War II. The other four are the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. They regularly exchange information on cyber threats and a range of terrorism threats.
— David E. Sanger and Zolan Kanno-Youngs
Biden announces a defense deal with Australia in a bid to counter China.
Image
President Biden spoke Wednesday about a new initiative with Britain and Australia to add to the Western presence in the Pacific.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration took a major step on Wednesday in challenging China’s broad territorial claims in the Pacific, announcing that the United States and Britain would help Australia to deploy nuclear-powered submarines, adding to the Western presence in the region.
If the plan, announced on Wednesday by President Biden, Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia, comes to fruition, Australia may be conducting routine patrols that could sail through areas of the South China Sea that Beijing now claims as its own exclusive zone, and range as far north as Taiwan. The announcement is a major step for Australia, which until recent years has been hesitant to push back directly at core Chinese interests.
“This is about investing in our greatest source of strength, our alliances and updating them to better meet the threats of today and tomorrow,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s about connecting America’s existing allies and partners in new ways.”
Australia has felt increasingly threatened, and three years ago was among the first nations to ban Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, from its networks. Now, with the prospect of deploying a new submarine fleet, with nuclear propulsion systems that offer limitless range and run so quietly that they are hard to detect, Australia would become a far more muscular player in the American-led alliance in the Pacific. And for Mr. Johnson, the new defense arrangement would bolster his effort to develop a new “Global Britain” strategy that focuses on the Pacific, the next step after Brexit took the country out of the European Union.
American officials said Australia had committed never to arm the submarines with nuclear weapons; they would almost certainly carry conventional, submarine-launched cruise missiles. Australia is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which bans it from acquiring or deploying nuclear weapons. Yet even conventionally-armed submarines, manned by Australian sailors, could alter the naval balance of power balance in the Pacific.
“Attack submarines are big deal, and they send a big message,’’ said Vipin Narang, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who studies the use of nuclear weapons and delivery systems in great-power competition. “This would be hard to imagine 5 years ago. And it would have been impossible 10 years ago. And that says a lot about China’s behavior in the region.”
The announcement is the latest in a series of actions by Mr. Biden, his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan and his Asia coordinator, Kurt Campbell, to design a strategy that pushes back on Chinese economic, military and technological expansionism. Over the past eight months they have blocked China from acquiring key technologies, including materials for semiconductor production; urged nations to reject Huawei; edged toward closer dealings with Taiwan and denounced China’s crackdown on Hong Kong. Next week Mr. Biden will gather the leaders of “the Quad” — an informal partnership of the United States, Japan, India and Australia — at the White House for an in-person meeting, another way to demonstrate common resolve in dealing with Beijing.
Mr. Biden spoke with President Xi Jinping of China last week for roughly 90 minutes, only the second time the two leaders have spoken in since Mr. Biden took office. Few details of the conversation were revealed, so it is unclear if Mr. Biden gave his Chinese counterpart warning of the move with Australia. But none of it would have come as a surprise to Beijing; earlier the Australians had announced a deal with France for less technologically sophisticated submarines. That deal collapsed.
Nonetheless, the decision to share the technology for naval reactors, even to a close ally, was a major move for Mr. Biden — one bound to raise protests by the Chinese and questions from American allies and nonproliferation experts. The United States last shared the nuclear propulsion technology with an ally in 1958 in a similar agreement with the United Kingdom, administration officials said.
“There is a shared understanding that we need to strengthen deterrence and actually be prepared to fight a conflict if one occurs,” said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund, a policy think tank. “It reflects growing concern about Chinese military capabilities and intentions.”
The nuclear reactors that power American and British submarines use bomb-grade, highly-enriched uranium, a remnant of Cold War-era designs. And for two decades Washington has been on a drive to eliminate reactors around the world that use bomb-grade fuel, substituting them with less dangerous fuel in an effort to limit the risk of proliferation.
The movement gained momentum after the Sept. 11 attacks, and President Barack Obama ran a series of “nuclear summits,” drawing leaders from around the world, that were used to pressure nations to take old reactors that use highly-enriched uranium out of service, so that the fuel could never fall into the hands of terrorists.
But the new arrangement with Australia seems almost sure to move in the other direction: Australia will almost certainly power its submarines with highly-enriched uranium, because for now there is little other choice. Aware of the contradiction, administration officials cast the decision as an “exception,” though one they would not make for other major allies, including South Korea, which in decades past was caught moving toward building its own nuclear arsenal. Australia has been a leader in the nonproliferation movement.
“We last did this 70 years ago,’’ a senior administration official deeply involved in the negotiations over the deal said on Wednesday. “After today, it’s not likely we will do it again.”
Officials said that the details will be worked out over the next 18 months, including strict controls on nuclear technology. They said Australia had already agreed not to produce the highly-enriched fuel, meaning it will almost certainly be buying it from American stockpiles.
The United States has explored moving away from highly-enriched uranium. A study by the Pentagon’s top nuclear advisory group concluded in 2019 that the U.S. should shift to reactors that burn low-enriched uranium, which cannot be easily diverted to use in weapons. But that process, the experts concluded, could not begin until after 2040.
“There will be many who say we are giving the Australians a gateway drug for a nuclear capability,’’ Mr. Narang said. “It is not something we would let other major allies get away with, much less help make it possible.”
But China’s aggressive tactics in the Pacific and the need to ensure the security around Taiwan required the United States to empower Australia, even if it meant carving an exception to the effort to reduce the use of weapons-grade nuclear fuel, according to Elbridge Colby, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense strategy and force development
Australia has, for more than seven decades, been a member of the “Five Eyes,’’ the intelligence alliance that includes the major English-speaking victors of World War II. The other four are the United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand. They regularly exchange information on cyber threats and a range of terrorism threats.
— David E. Sanger and Zolan Kanno-Youngs