https://www.scmp.com/rss/514293/feed Stanley Chao is the author of “Selling to China” (2018) and managing director for All In Consulting, assisting companies in their China business strategies. He has lived and worked in China for over 20 years. Twitter @stanleychao6. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Stanley Chao Stanley Chao Beijing stole a page from Washington’s playbook last month by effectively instituting its own chip ban, with Chinese companies now discouraged from purchasing Nvidia’s AI chips. The bold, calculated move has surely rattled Trump administration officials, with their assumptions about China needing American technology. Indeed, the move suggests US President Donald Trump has little leverage. His desperation was on full display last Friday, with his threats to impose an additional 100 per cent... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3328538/why-china-still-has-upper-hand-us-trade-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3328538/why-china-still-has-upper-hand-us-trade-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Oct 2025 21:30:07 +0000 Stanley Chao Stanley Chao It is hardly a stretch to say that the Trump administration went nuclear last week in banning the sale of American semiconductor design software to China. The unprecedented move signals a tectonic shift in policy. The goal now is not simply to slow down China’s semiconductor ambitions; it is to halt them. As with previous, less extreme restrictions, these ones are likely to backfire. They will further isolate the United States from the world’s largest semiconductor consumer market, strengthen... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3312908/us-china-trade-war-goes-nuclear-trumps-chip-software-ban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3312908/us-china-trade-war-goes-nuclear-trumps-chip-software-ban?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:30:08 +0000 Stanley Chao Stanley Chao On April 2, US President Donald Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on virtually every country, friends and foes alike. The purported goal was to revitalise domestic manufacturing and create millions of high-paying American jobs. In the Rose Garden, Trump dubbed it “Liberation Day”, to “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn”. Nearly a month later, it appears Trump’s words have no more staying power than his Liberation Day tariffs, most of which he later postponed. The real... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3308505/trump-cannot-look-past-make-us-manufacturing-great-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3308505/trump-cannot-look-past-make-us-manufacturing-great-again?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 May 2025 21:30:08 +0000 Stanley Chao Stanley Chao While US President Donald Trump has spared no bombast even when dealing with long-standing American allies, he has been curiously reticent regarding an expected target of his rhetorical ire: China. If anything, Trump has gone out of his way to appease America’s chief rival on the global stage. He invited President Xi Jinping to his inauguration and has signalled the possibility of a new trade deal, not to mention a willingness to allow TikTok’s presence in the US market. What explains Trump’s... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3301508/why-second-trump-administration-going-easy-china-bashing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3301508/why-second-trump-administration-going-easy-china-bashing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Mar 2025 21:30:08 +0000 Chinese hi-tech start-up DeepSeek recently shocked the world by releasing a new generative artificial intelligence (AI) model that, it claims, rivals US company OpenAI’s ChatGPT in performance while blowing it away in cost efficiency. The announcement was a boon to China’s confidence in its technological self-reliance and a blow to Washington’s conviction that it could contain China’s emergence as a superpower. Talk of a “Sputnik moment” resounded in the US media. Yet the Cold War analogy missed... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3297566/deepseek-raises-fear-cold-war-powered-accessible-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3297566/deepseek-raises-fear-cold-war-powered-accessible-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 09 Feb 2025 21:30:07 +0000 If the Olympics are a proxy for geopolitics, they also typically are replete with paeans to the global spirit of sportsmanship and mutual respect. They are supposed to bring out the best in everyone – except, apparently, when the athletes in question are Chinese. In some Western circles at least, the 2024 Paris Olympics have been open season for the vilification and disrespect of Chinese athletes. Athletes, coaches and fans seem to be taking cues from political leaders intent on bashing China.... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3273523/trumpian-treatment-chinas-athletes-hardly-keeping-olympic-spirit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3273523/trumpian-treatment-chinas-athletes-hardly-keeping-olympic-spirit?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Aug 2024 01:30:08 +0000 As the US presidential election gears up, the anti-China rhetoric has ratcheted up. Just last week, the Biden administration announced an investigation into Chinese-assembled smart cars, which it said could collect sensitive information about Americans and US infrastructure. This came after Donald Trump promised to impose tariffs of 60 per cent or more on Chinese goods if re-elected. The political incentive for anti-China fearmongering is obvious, as the Republican and Democratic parties seek to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3253905/why-china-fearmongering-bad-america?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/united-states/article/3253905/why-china-fearmongering-bad-america?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Mar 2024 21:30:12 +0000 In the latest attempt to hobble China’s access to advanced chip technologies, Washington politicians are pressuring President Joe Biden to prohibit American companies and personnel from collaborating with the Chinese on a leading form of open-source software technology – RISC-V. But if the US stops helping to develop it, the risks will all be on the American side. An American pull-out from RISC-V would hurt domestic hi-tech firms, damage the nation’s standing in the world and ultimately allow... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3251138/us-sanctions-risc-v-chip-tech-would-play-straight-chinas-hands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3251138/us-sanctions-risc-v-chip-tech-would-play-straight-chinas-hands?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 Feb 2024 08:30:11 +0000 Once again, the Biden administration has ratcheted up chip sanctions against China. The measures, announced last month, limit sales of additional semiconductor equipment, software and certain types of chips, all in an effort to throttle China’s advancement in artificial intelligence and military technology. As the political weaponisation of the chip industry escalates, companies are often forced into decisions based on factors other than business fundamentals. The plan by Taiwan Semiconductor... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3240663/tsmcs-arizona-chip-foundry-setbacks-show-geopolitics-terrible-way-run-business?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3240663/tsmcs-arizona-chip-foundry-setbacks-show-geopolitics-terrible-way-run-business?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Nov 2023 12:30:19 +0000 Finally, and with much fanfare, China’s first large home-grown passenger jet made its inaugural commercial flight last month. Produced by the Commercial Aircraft Company of China (Comac), the C919 jet embodies China’s rise to prominence on the world’s stage and reinforces its national pride and self-reliance. To be sure, the C919’s flight from Shanghai to Beijing came after years of delays, cost overruns, engineering snafus and, more recently, US sanctions. China and its aviation industry have... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3224897/why-c919-more-just-aircraft-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3224897/why-c919-more-just-aircraft-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Jun 2023 08:30:10 +0000 The Biden administration has taken US-China relations to a low not seen since before Richard Nixon went to China. Last October, the US Commerce Department banned all companies, even foreign ones, from selling advanced semiconductor technologies to China. The goal is to thwart Beijing’s military, artificial intelligence and supercomputing prowess. This unprecedented move means even companies based outside the United States cannot sell to China if their products contain US-origin technologies.... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3210197/how-long-can-us-allies-support-semiconductor-chip-ban-china-caving?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3210197/how-long-can-us-allies-support-semiconductor-chip-ban-china-caving?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Feb 2023 17:00:13 +0000 I never thought US-China relations could get any worse. Then, in October, the Biden administration pulled the pin from its grenade by announcing sweeping restrictions on the sale of advanced semiconductor technology to China. The aim is to thwart China’s chip-making capabilities and advancements in space, the military and supercomputing. The fallout will overwhelm any token of goodwill from Joe Biden and Xi Jinping’s meeting at the G20 in Bali. Biden’s tech sanctions are even more severe than... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3201424/us-china-chip-war-will-end-small-victories-and-losers-all-around?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3201424/us-china-chip-war-will-end-small-victories-and-losers-all-around?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Dec 2022 17:00:09 +0000