Mahathir Mohamad Questions Multiracialism

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (right) on Monday claimed that promoting multiracialism is against the Federal Constitution, which he alleged instead endorses the “Malayness” of the country. 

 

I don't intend to waste precious words on him because it'll be a pure waste of my time. Who doesn't know that Mahathir is a ranting shock jock?! 

 

Chips are vital for everything from smartphones and self-driving cars to advanced computing and weapons manufacturing. 

 

And in the name of national security, the US government last October unveiled a set of export controls banning Chinese companies from buying advanced chips and chip-making equipment without a license. But it didn’t stop there. 

 

For the curbs to be effective, Washington needed other key suppliers, located in the Netherlands and Japan, to join. They did. 

 

China eventually retaliated. In April, it launched a cybersecurity probe into Micron Technology, one of America’s biggest memory chipmakers, before banning the company from selling to Chinese companies working on key infrastructure projects one month later. 

 

On Monday, Beijing imposed export controls on two strategic raw materials, gallium and germanium, that are critical to the global chipmaking industry. 

 

FYI, China is the world’s leading producer of both gallium and germanium, according to the US Geological Survey. The country accounted for 98% of the global production of gallium, and 68% of the refinery production of germanium. 

 

But according to CNN Business, the move is not considered “a death blow” to the United States and its allies. China may be the industry leader, but there are alternative producers, as well as available substitutes for both minerals. 

 

The United States also imports a fifth of its gallium from the United Kingdom and Germany and buys more than 30% of its germanium from Belgium and Germany. 

 

In any case, the United States and China are already immersed in a tit-for-tat chip war. And it is escalating.