went to one of my favorite pho shops
vietnamese sold to indian/chinese
pho still very good, but no banh mi
went a few before closing, one customer in the house
look over at the largest table in the center of the joint
a giant spread of food being brought out from the kitchen
i look at the host and he smiles and says chinese new year!
hope they had a good time
Nuclear sub sinking accident exposes flaws in Chinaâs breakneck naval expansion, raising hard questions about capabilities and readiness
byGabriel HonradaOctober 1, 2024Figure 1: Cranes at the Wuchang shipyard pier where the Zhou class reportedly sank. Photo: X Screengrab / Planet Labs
Chinaâs ambitions for naval dominance took a hit with the recent sinking of its most advanced nuclear submarine at a Wuhan shipyard, exposing critical vulnerabilities in its defense capabilities amid an intense military buildup and rising sea tensions with the United States and its Pacific allies.
Last month, multiplemediaoutlets reported that Chinaâs most advanced nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), the first of the new Zhou class built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), sank while docked at the Wuchang shipyard, according to US defense sources.
Satellite imagery revealed its presence at the pier, followed by the sighting of cranes, which analysts believe were used to recover the submerged vessel by early June. The US Department of Defense (DOD) confirmed the incident, marking a potentially significant setback in Chinaâs bid to close the gap with US naval dominance.
The incident raises concerns about Chinaâs training standards, equipment quality and internal accountability within its defense industry, which has long been affected by corruption. The Chinese government has not commented on the incident. At the same time, the submarine may be salvaged and repaired, although delays are expected.
Since at least 2016, foreign interference in American elections and civil society have become central to American political discourse. The issue is taken extremely seriously by the U.S. government, which has levied sanctions and called out foreign adversaries for sowing âdiscord and chaosâ through their propaganda efforts.
But apparently Washington takes a different view when it comes to American propaganda operations in foreign countries. On Monday, the House passed HR 1157, the âCountering the PRC Malign Influence Fund,â by a bipartisan 351-36 majority. This legislation authorizes more than $1.6 billion for the State Department and USAID over the next five years to, among other purposes, subsidize media and civil society sources around the world that counter Chinese âmalign influenceâ globally.
Thatâs a massive spend â about twice, for example, the annual operating expenditure of CNN. If passed into law it would also represent a large increase in federal spending on international influence operations. While itâs hard to total all of the spending on U.S. influence operations across agencies, the main coordinating body for U.S. information efforts, the State Departmentâs Global Engagement Center (GEC), has an annual budget of less than $100 million.
(...)
The document provides a case study (or âcompetition vignetteâ) of what an integrated effort to counter Chinese influence could look like in the fictional African country of Naruvu. In the vignette, members of a Special Forces Civil Affairs team spot a billboard with a picture of a port and Chinese characters. Quickly determining that the Chinese are investing in a new deep-water port in Naruvu, the 8th Psyop Group at Fort Braggâs Information Warfare Center (IWC) works with local and U.S. government partners to immediately develop an influence campaign to âdiscredit Chinese activities.â
The influence campaign âempowered IWTF (Information Warfare Task Force), in coordination with the JIIM (local and U.S. government partners) to inflame long-standing friction between Naruvian workers and Chinese corporations. Within days, protests supported by the CFTâs ODA (Special Forces Operations Detachment Alpha), erupted around Chinese business headquarters and their embassy in Ajuba. Simultaneously, the IWC-led social media campaign illuminated the controversy.â
Faced with a combined propaganda campaign and intense labor unrest, the Chinese company is forced to back down from its planned port. (Although the vignette continues to an even more Hollywood-ready ending in which U.S. special forces break into the construction companyâs offices, confiscate blueprints for the port, and discover that it is actually a Chinese plot to emplace long-range missiles in Naruvu to threaten U.S. Atlantic shipping). (...)
"The U.S. has imposed export controls to deny China access to strategic technologies {but} we find no evidence of reshoring or friend-shoring. As a result of these disruptions, affected suppliers have negative abnormal stock returns, wiping out $130 billion in market capitalization, and experience a drop in bank lending, profitability, and employment. {U.S. firms'} total number of customers declines, potentially inflicting collateral damage upon the same U.S. firms whose technology export controls are trying to protect."
They also highlight that "the benefits of U.S. export controls, namely denying China access to advanced technology, may be limited as a result of Chinese strategic behavior. Indeed, there is evidence that, following U.S. export controls, China has boosted domestic innovation and self-reliance, and increased purchases from non-U.S. firms that produce similar technology to the U.S.-made ones subject to export controls."
In other words, it's almost a pure loss for US firms who lose customers, revenue and market capitalization whereas the affected Chinese firms find alternative suppliers and China boosts its domestic innovation and self-reliance.
