ANYONE who has studied history and geopolitics understands the situation with China and Taiwan. The former regards the latter as a rebellious province, supported by an imperialistic enemy, the United States, while the latter remembers decades of conflict with the former.
China, therefore, wants to take back Taiwan which it sees as a rebellious province in need of a good spanking.
However, there is another reason why China needs to take back Taiwan: semiconductors.
The island makes tons of them. A company called Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited, is literally “the world[s largest dedicated independent semiconductor foundry” in the world.
Aside from the economic value that semiconductors present to China, it is also an important component in AI (artificial intelligence) technology.
AI (or if you prefer, machine learning) is expected by many analysts to be the next major breakthrough in tech, and will have tremendous effects on warfare, logistics, manufacturing, transportation, communications, and more.
China is aware of this and wants the advantage in AI. The only problem is that you need semiconductors in most if not all tech-related fields, especially AI. China is trying to build a semiconductor industry, especially after the United States cut off access to its own supplies, but it will take time, and there’s no guarantee that China will succeed. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has cut taxes to stimulate a local industry, but it’s a wait and see situation at this point.
A quick way to solve this problem is take over Taiwan. But again, there’s the US-Taiwan alliance preventing them. And even if they were to do that, they might destabilize the entire Asian region, regardless of whatever the Americans will do.
For now, the situation with China and Taiwan is one of the status quo, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the situation might escalate in the near future, particularly if the PRC feels that it needs Taiwan’s semiconductors to stay competitive in AI./PN
