| The President’s Inbox Recap: Critical Minerals and China by Michelle Kurilla, Guest Contributor  The digging of raw nickel ore near Sorowako, Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, on January 8, 2014. REUTERS/Yusuf Ahmad The latest episode of The President’s Inbox is live, and we’ve revived the practice of posting a weekly episode recap on The Water’s Edge. This week, Jim sat down with Morgan Bazilian, the Director of the Payne Institute and a professor of public policy at the Colorado School of Mines. They discussed the role of critical minerals in geopolitical competition with China. Here are four takeaways from the conversation: 1. Critical minerals are essential for the green energy transition. Lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, and other minerals are critical to building the batteries, electrical grids, and solar facilities needed to move away from fossil fuels. Demand for lithium alone is predicted to increase thirteen-fold by 2040 and could become a sticking point in the green energy transition. Nor is demand for critical minerals limited to the energy sector; they’re widely used to manufacture everything from smartphones to advanced weaponry. 2. China dominates the critical mineral supply chain. A few countries sit atop vast mineral reserves. Seventy-five percent of the world’s known lithium reserves are found in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. The Democratic Republic of the Congo possess more than half the world’s cobalt reserves. Indonesia has more than 20 percent of the world’s nickel reserves. Regardless of where mines might be located, China owns or finances many of them. As recently as 2020, China owned and financed fifteen of the nineteen cobalt mines in the DROC. China also dominates the refining process. It controls 65 percent of cobalt refining, nearly 60 percent of the lithium refining, and as much as 95 percent of manganese refining. This dominance gives China leverage over customers, something it has used in the past. In 2010, China stopped exporting rare earth elements (a subset of critical minerals essential to electronics manufacturing) to Japan amid heightened tensions between the two countries. 3. The United States can lessen its dependence but doing so will take time. The United States is working with its allies and partners to lessen potential vulnerabilities to disruptions in critical mineral supply. The recently signed Mineral Security Partnership with Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, and others would allow investments in mining infrastructure abroad by the United States through the Export-Import Bank. The United States is currently negotiating a deal with the EU that would harmonize rules governing critical minerals used in electric batteries. The United States struck a similar deal with Japan last month. President Biden could also invoke the Defense Production Act to rapidly increase domestic investment in critical minerals. But all of these steps will take time to produce results. It can take more than sixteen years to make a new mine operational. There’s been pushback to investments in mining and processing due to their harmful environmental impacts, and both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have voiced concern about a need for congressional oversight in the trade agreements. 4. Technological advancements could lessen supply chain vulnerabilities. Technology has a long history of solving scarcity problems. Critical minerals could provide yet another example. For example, progress is being made on developing sodium batteries. They don’t require either cobalt or nickel as lithium batteries do. Even better for the United States, Wyoming sits on top of more than 90 percent of the world’s main industrial source of sodium. But it would take time to scale up sodium battery production and ease doubts about their durability, let alone ramp up construction of sodium battery factories to compete with China and get the rest of the world onboard. Shortly after Jim and Morgan talked, Chile nationalized its lithium reserves, citing economic and environmental concerns. Chile isn’t the first country to make this move. Mexico did the same last year. If you’re looking to read more of Morgan’s work, check out the piece he co-wrote earlier this year for Foreign Affairs arguing that the United States needs to rework its supply chains at home and abroad to “win the energy battle of the twenty-first century.” In another article for Foreign Policy, he and his co-authors warned America’s dependency on the critical minerals that China dominates poses a national security risk. He also co-wrote a piece for the Wilson Center’s New Security Beat blog that argued the United States needs to diversify its supply chains globally and domestically so that its climate mitigation strategies and military readiness are not in competition with one another.Read Original Post |
Tác giả: Trần Đình Hoành
I am an attorney in the Washington DC area, with a Doctor of Law in the US, attended the master program at the National School of Administration of Việt Nam, and graduated from Sài Gòn University Law School. I aso studied philosophy at the School of Letters in Sài Gòn.
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I have worked as an anti-trust attorney for Federal Trade Commission and a litigator for a fortune-100 telecom company in Washington DC.
I have taught law courses for legal professionals in Việt Nam and still counsel VN government agencies on legal matters.
I have founded and managed businesses for me and my family, both law and non-law.
I have published many articles on national newspapers and radio stations in Việt Nam.
In 1989 I was one of the founding members of US-VN Trade Council, working to re-establish US-VN relationship.
Since the early 90's, I have established and managed VNFORUM and VNBIZ forum on VN-related matters; these forums are the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr. Caroline Valverde at UC-Berkeley and her book Transnationalizing Viet Nam.
I translate poetry and my translation of "A Request at Đồng Lộc Cemetery" is now engraved on a stone memorial at Đồng Lộc National Shrine in VN.
I study and teach the Bible and Buddhism. In 2009 I founded and still manage dotchuoinon.com on positive thinking and two other blogs on Buddhism.
In 2015 a group of friends and I founded website CVD - Conversations on Vietnam Development (cvdvn.net).
I study the art of leadership with many friends who are religious, business and government leaders from many countries.
I have written these books, published by Phu Nu Publishing House in Hanoi:
"Positive Thinking to Change Your Life", in Vietnamese (TƯ DUY TÍCH CỰC Thay Đổi Cuộc Sống) (Oct. 2011)
"10 Core Values for Success" (10 Giá trị cốt lõi của thành công) (Dec. 2013)
"Live a Life Worth Living" (Sống Một Cuộc Đời Đáng Sống) (Oct. 2023)
I practice Jiu Jitsu and Tai Chi for health, and play guitar as a hobby, usually accompanying my wife Trần Lê Túy Phượng, aka singer Linh Phượng.
How online searches for ‘Ukraine’ and ‘Taiwan’ are censored in China: study
Thousands of combinations of keywords attract either no matches on internet platforms or redirect to approved content, Canadian research group saysThree-month project shows infringement of ‘rights to freely access political and religious content’
Sylvie Zhuang in Beijing
Published: 7:58pm, 28 Apr, 2023, SCMP
A Canadian study has detailed censored search terms about the war in Ukraine on Chinese platforms. Photo: Shutterstock Images
“Ukraine” and “Taiwan” are among a wide range of newly discovered keyword combinations censored by Chinese search engines and social media platforms, according to a study by a group of Canadian researchers.
In a report released on Wednesday, researchers from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab said they looked at eight platforms accessible in China and found “60,000 unique censorship rules used to partially or totally censor search results”.
Tiếp tục đọc “How online searches for ‘Ukraine’ and ‘Taiwan’ are censored in China: study”China and Taiwan: A Torrid Backstory
Tensions between the United States and China over Taiwan have been on the rise. Here’s what lies behind them.
Monday, April 17th, 2023 New York Times
This transcript was created using speech recognition software. While it has been reviewed by human transcribers, it may contain errors. Please review the episode audio before quoting from this transcript and email transcripts@nytimes.com with any questions.
Sabrina Tavernise: From “The New York Times,” I’m Sabrina Tavernise. And this is “The Daily.” [MUSIC PLAYING]
The posturing between the US and China has been intensifying in recent weeks, especially when it comes to Taiwan. Today, my colleague, Edward Wong, on why China is so fixated on Taiwan and how the US got in the middle of it.
It’s Monday, April 17.
So, Ed, Taiwan has been back in the news again for the past few weeks. Tell us why.
Edward Wong: Well, Sabrina, we saw tensions spike this month over Taiwan. Earlier this month, the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, stopped in Los Angeles on her way back to Taiwan from Central America. Archived Recording (Tsai Ing-Wen)
Tiếp tục đọc “China and Taiwan: A Torrid Backstory”Remarks by President Biden and President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea in Joint Press Conference
2023 Special 301 Report
Office of the United States Trade Representative
The Special 301 Report (Report) is the result of an annual review of the state of intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement in U.S. trading partners around the world, which the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) conducts pursuant to Section 182 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the Trade Act, 19 U.S.C. § 2242). C
Excerpt: Section on Vietnam
VIETNAM
Vietnam remains on the Watch List in 2023. Vietnam took steps to improve intellectual property (IP) protection and enforcement, including amending its Intellectual Property Law in June 2022 and acceding to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) and WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT), collectively known asthe WIPO Internet Treaties, in April 2022 and November 2021 respectively. Right holders also welcomed greater engagement with enforcement authorities and increases in Vietnam Customs’ border enforcement in certain areas. However, IP enforcement continues to be a serious challenge. While Vietnamese authorities initiated a criminal investigation against the operators of Phimmoi.net, the investigation has stalled. There are almost no criminal investigations or prosecutions, even though Vietnam has criminal laws imposing substantial fines and years of incarceration for copyright and trademark infringement. Vietnam continues to rely heavily on administrative enforcement actions, which have consistently failed to deter widespread counterfeiting and piracy. In particular, online
piracy, including the use of illicit streaming devices and associated piracy applications to access unauthorized audiovisual content, remains a significant concern. Moreover, although Vietnam issued a decree to address the online sale of counterfeit goods, the trafficking of pirated and counterfeit goods through e-commerce sites and elsewhere online remains a serious problem. Counterfeit goods remain widely available in physical markets as well. According to right holders,weak IP enforcement in Vietnam is due to poor coordination among ministries and agencies responsible for enforcement, delays in investigations and court proceedings, and the lack of familiarity with IP law among police, prosecutors, and judges. The United States is closely monitoring and engaging with Vietnam on the ongoing implementation of amendments to the 2015 Penal Code with respect to criminal enforcement of IP violations. In addition, right holders have raised concerns about trademark application backlogs. Furthermore, Vietnam’s system for protecting against the unfair commercial use, as well asthe unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceutical products needs clarification. The United States is also monitoring the implementation of IP provisions pursuant to Vietnam’s commitments under trade agreements with third parties. The European UnionVietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) grandfathered prior users of certain cheese terms from the restrictions in the geographical indications (GIs) provisions of the EVFTA, and it is important that Vietnam ensure market access for prior users of those terms who were in the Vietnamese market before the grandfathering date of January 1, 2017. The United States urges Vietnam to engage on and address these issues and to provide interested stakeholders with meaningful opportunities for input as it proceeds with these reforms. The United States will continue to press on these and other IP issues with Vietnam through the United States-Vietnam Trade and Investment Framework Agreement and other bilateral engagement.
China doesn’t want peace in Ukraine, Czech president warns
In an interview, Petr Pavel — a former general with NATO — argued China is benefiting too much from the war to play peacemaker.
BY LILI BAYER AND KETRIN JOCHECOVÁ
APRIL 25, 2023 4:03 AM CET, Politico.eu
China cannot be trusted to mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine, Czech President Petr Pavel is warning, telling POLITICO that Beijing benefits from prolonging the war.
His comments come as China is trying to position itself as a peacemaker in Ukraine, recently floating a vague roadmap to ending the conflict. And while most Western allies have been skeptical of the overtures, some countries like France insist China could play a major role in peace talks.
Tiếp tục đọc “China doesn’t want peace in Ukraine, Czech president warns”Strategic Competition and Security Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific
Written By
MEDIA QUERIES
Georgette Almeida
Executive Assistant
(808) 521-6745
Issues & Insights Vol. 23, SR3 – Strategic Competition and Security Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific
Introduction
There is a growing acceptance among countries in the Indo-Pacific region that strategic competition between the United States and China is changing perceptions about security and the adequacy of the existing security architecture. While some have characterized the competition between the two as a new Cold War, it is clear that what is happening in the region is far more complex than the competition that characterized the original Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. First, the economic integration that has taken place since the early 1990s makes it much more difficult to draw bright ideological lines between the two sides. Further, the Asian context of the emerging competition is one where the two competitors have grown to share power. As the dominant military power, the United States has been the primary security guarantor in Asia and beyond. China, on the other hand, has emerged over the past decades as the primary economic catalyst in Asia and beyond. Currently, each side seems increasingly unwilling to accept that arrangement.
Download the full volume here.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Carl Baker
Chapter 1 | Southeast Asia Faces Its Boogeyman – Great Power Competition Returns to Southeast Asia in the 21st Century
Drew Thompson
Chapter 2 | Geoeconomics and Geopolitics in Southeast Asia
Thitinan Pongsudhirak
Chapter 3 | Economic Aspects of National Security
Brad Glosserman
Chapter 4 | China as a technological power: Chinese perspectives and the quantum case
Hoo Tiang Boon
Chapter 5 | Minilateral groupings as an alternative to multilateralism in an era of strategic competition
Thomas Wilkins
Chapter 6 | The Role of Indo-Pacific Economic Institutions in Shaping Security Competition
Prashanth Parameswaran
Chapter 7 | Economic Development Cooperation amid Indo-Pacific Strategic Competition
Gong Xue
Chapter 8 | Regional Security Cooperation in the US-China Strategic Competition
Kei Koga
Chapter 9 | Strategic Competition and Security Cooperation
Raymund Jose Quilop
The State of Southeast Asia – 2023 Survey Report
Download Report from Yusof Ishak Institute >>
The ASEAN Studies Centre (ASC) at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute released “The State of Southeast Asia 2023 Survey Report” online at 1130 hr on 9 February 2023 (Singapore time).
Findings from the latest run of the State of Southeast Asia Survey conducted by the ASEAN Studies Centre at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute reveal that Southeast Asia’s top preoccupations are with recessionary pressures, potential military tensions, and a ‘slow and ineffective’ ASEAN. China continues to be regarded as the most influential economic and political power in the region and the US has sharpened its edge over China in the event of a forced choice while Japan remains its most trusted major power. Click to read the full Media Release.
For current and past years reports, click here.
For Event Highlights of the discussion, click here.
To view the discussion, click here.
Media Coverage:
Tiếp tục đọc “The State of Southeast Asia – 2023 Survey Report”PRC WRITINGS ON STRATEGIC DETERRENCE
TECHNOLOGICAL DISRUPTION AND THE SEARCH FOR STRATEGIC STABILITY
Alison A. KaufmanBrian Waidelich
BACKGROUND
This paper examines recent writings from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in order to highlight major themes and evolution in concepts of deterrence, strategic stability, and escalation control, particularly between 2017 and 2022.
PRC writings during this period display growing concern that innovations in military technology over the past several decades undermine strategic stability. Many PRC authors argue that the balance of military capabilities that enabled China to maintain a fairly small nuclear deterrent is becoming more fragile, and that as a result, Beijing can no longer be confident in its ability to deter other countries from attacking China with nuclear or other strategic weapons.
This paper provides a baseline for understanding, from a conceptual perspective, how PRC authors frame the challenges that these dynamics pose to China’s strategic deterrent and to strategic stability, and the implications they may have for Beijing’s approach to strategic capabilities.
KEY FINDINGS
STRATEGIC STABILITY, STRATEGIC DETERRENCE, AND STRATEGIC CAPABILITIES
PRC writings link the concepts of strategic stability, strategic deterrence, and strategic capabilities. Although PRC authors do not explicitly employ an ends-ways-means construct, based on their discussions we may think of strategic stability as the ends, strategic deterrence as the ways, and strategic capabilities as the means.
Tiếp tục đọc “PRC WRITINGS ON STRATEGIC DETERRENCE”Australia – Defence Strategic Review (2023)
Statement by Prime Minister Albanese and Dep. PM cum Minister of Defence Richard Marles
Release of the Defence Strategic Review
Joint media release
Related ministers and contacts
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Prime Minister of Australia
Ministerial contact
Prime Minister’s Office – 02 6277 7744 – Media@pm.gov.au
The Hon Richard Marles MP
Deputy Prime Minister
Minister for Defence
Media contact
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister
dpm.media@defence.gov.au
02 6277 7800
Defence Media
Release content
24 APRIL 2023
Today the Albanese Government has released the public version of the Defence Strategic Review (the Review), the Government’s response to the Review, and the National Defence Statement 2023.
Commissioned in the first 100 days of Government, the Review sets the agenda for ambitious, but necessary, reform to Defence’s posture and structure.
The Government’s response to the Review sets out a blueprint for Australia’s strategic policy, defence planning and resourcing over the coming decades.
The Albanese Government has agreed, or agreed in-principle with further work required, to the public Review recommendations, and has identified six priority areas for immediate action: Tiếp tục đọc “Australia – Defence Strategic Review (2023)”
Defence review pulls no punches: China the biggest threat we face
By Matthew Knott ,
April 24, 2023 — 3.55pm, The Sydney Morning Herald
Angus Houston and Stephen Smith have delivered a blaring wake-up call to any Australians who think they still live in a sanctuary of safety at the southern edge of the Earth: you’re living in the past.
To those inside and outside the Australian Defence Force who think business-as-usual will cut it in the future: you’re delusional.
Their message to anyone confused about the biggest threat to Australia’s national security is similarly blunt: it is our largest trading partner, China.
Like a pair of doctors delivering confronting news to an ill patient, the two men tasked with reshaping Australia’s military for the 21st century have opted for admirable candour in their defence strategic review.
Rejecting vague language about rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, the former defence chief and defence minister call out just one nation – China – for threatening Australia’s core interests.
Tiếp tục đọc “Defence review pulls no punches: China the biggest threat we face”Yuval Noah Harari: ‘I don’t know if humans can survive AI’
For the first time, we’ve invented something that takes power away from us, says the Israeli historian and author of Sapiens
ByHarry de Quetteville23 April 2023 • 8:00am
Stories have always been vital to Yuval Harari, the Israeli historian-cum-philosopher. The unique capacity of our species to be bound and united by intangible narratives, even across oceans, was central to Sapiens, his mind-bogglingly popular chronicle of our species’ rise, which catapulted him to seer-like status after its publication in English nearly a decade ago.
Perhaps that is why he is so profoundly concerned today about the rise of a challenger to our tale-telling mastery – artificial intelligence (AI).
Lowry Institute’s Asia Power Index 2023
Key findings:
China’s challenges
United States in top position
India’s patchy contribution
Japan’s waning influence
Post-Covid resilience and recovery
Southeast Asia’s diplomatic dynamism
Russia’s declining relevance
G7 Japan 2023Foreign Ministers’ Communiqué
April 18, 2023 Karuizawa, Nagano
We, the G7 Foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom
(U.K.) and the United States of America (U.S.), and the High Representative of the European Union,
underline our strong sense of unity as the world navigates grave threats to the international system,
including Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine. We reaffirm our commitment to
collective action to address global challenges, including climate change, pollution, loss of biodiversity,
health, and food and energy security, and to uphold and reinforce the free and open international
order based on the rule of law, respecting the United Nations (UN) Charter. We will continue to work
with our partners to promote open, transparent, resilient, and sustainable societies that champion
human rights, justice, and dignity, and address the needs of the most vulnerable. We reaffirm our
intention to promote human security and continue building a global community that leaves no one
behind. We call on all partners to join us in addressing these pressing global challenges and to work
together to build a better, more prosperous, and more secure future.
Elon Musk warns AI could cause ‘civilization destruction’ even as he invests in it
By Clare Duffy, CNN
Updated 3:54 PM EDT, Mon April 17, 2023
03:15New YorkCNN —
Elon Musk warned in a new interview that artificial intelligence could lead to “civilization destruction,” even as he remains deeply involved in the growth of AI through his many companies, including a rumored new venture.
“AI is more dangerous than, say, mismanaged aircraft design or production maintenance or bad car production, in the sense that it is, it has the potential — however small one may regard that probability, but it is non-trivial — it has the potential of civilization destruction,” Musk said in a teaser clip Fox News shared of his interview with Tucker Carlson, which is set to air in two parts on Monday and Tuesday nights.
Tiếp tục đọc “Elon Musk warns AI could cause ‘civilization destruction’ even as he invests in it”
CVD 