David Demes 戴達衛

German freelance journalist based in Taipei | @TaiwanFCC VP | Field producer for @DasErste ARD public television | Words in @TableBriefings, @tagesspiegel, etc.

[David Demes 戴達衛 @DemesDavid]

Nach fast zwei Jahren Arbeit ist unser Taiwan-Band für die @bpb_de endlich da!

Auf 190 Seiten haben mein Co-Autor Frédéric Krumbein und ich versucht, Taiwans bewegte Geschichte, geopolitische Lage und nationale Identität für ein breites Publikum verständlich zusammenzufassen.

[Lyle Morris @LyleJMorris]

An important qualification.

Justice Mission 2025 was a Taiwan-centered exercise. Its announced drill zones were in the Taiwan Strait and immediately around Taiwan, and its stated objectives included blockading key ports and deterring outside intervention.

This recent deployment of more than 100 vessels covers a wider regional deployment spanning waters off Taiwan, the South China Sea, and the western Pacific. In other words, not only about Taiwan, but about broader Indo-Pacific power projection.

We will be analyzing this recent exercise in an upcoming issue of PLA Watch.

[Chris Lunday @lundayfunday]

Germany's military is phasing out Chinese-made drones and banning Chinese cars from its bases over fears of espionage, Der Spiegel reports.

The drones had previously been used to train German troops but are now considered a security risk.

[Jing Yang @jingyanghk]

SCOOP: We find out how long Alice Huang has known Jensen Huang, and identified her real company, Shanghai Century Litong, which enabled at least $7.5B Nvidia chips sales to China since 2023, bigger than previously reported. via @theinformation $NVDA

[Julian Gewirtz @JulianGewirtz]

Jensen Huang reportedly instructed his team at Nvidia "never to think about" planning for a Taiwan contingency.

Despite the fact that their business is reliant on TSMC.

The Jensen-Megaspeed mess really puts these incredible — and barely-noticed — details from Stephen Witt's The Thinking Machine in a new light:

Huang refuses to consider the impact on his global business if China were to blockade or invade Taiwan, despite the regular threats emanating from Beijing to do just that. “To my great surprise, Nvidia had done no contingency planning for this eventuality,” Witt writes.

He quotes Deb Shoquist, Nvidia’s executive vice-president of operations: “If something happens to Taiwan and TSMC, the ramifications are so large it’s almost like asking me what I’d do if California fell into the ocean.” Huang had instructed her “never to think about this question.”

—from my @nybooks essay earlier this year on Nvidia and American policy toward China: https://t.co/xfn5RqtKy3

—more thoughts from me today: https://t.co/lQG6IFcdwh

[Reuters China @ReutersChina]

China is carrying out "area denial" drills in the Western Pacific involving one of its aircraft carriers and other naval formations, Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo said on Tuesday, following a reported rise in Chinese activities. https://t.co/jUR605c5sw

[Emily Chang @emilychangtv]

Last month, I followed Jensen Huang across Europe for an upcoming episode of The Circuit. In light of recent events, we’re sharing some unreleased footage.

[Chris McGuire @ChrisRMcGuire]

Good for Nvidia’s board for doing an investigation. But Jensen’s behavior is only half the story.

The biggest problem remains unaddressed: the Department of Commerce has enacted policies—at the encouragement of Jensen, and which the MSS reportedly sought as well—that allow China to continue to access the most advanced Nvidia chips, including via Megaspeed. @CommerceGov leadership knew that Jensen was sleeping with a Chinese spy and that Megaspeed was a Chinese cutout, but still actively opposed any policies to tighten export controls on Nvidia chips. Why?

Commerce could have blocked chip shipments to Megaspeed the moment it found out that it was run by a Chinese spy, but it did not. Commerce has also refused to enforce regulations—which ironically remain on the books—that would require exporters to apply for a license to ship large numbers of AI chips to untrusted entities in many countries, which would prevent China from using shell companies like Megaspeed to buy controlled chips. And Commerce has done nothing to cut off China’s remote access of controlled chips, or its ability to buy controlled chips in the United States.

Why is Commerce protecting Jensen and supporting his preferred policies even though it has known for months that Jensen was sleeping with a Chinese spy? Why is it STILL doing so?

Obviously Nvidia needs to take significant steps in its operations, security, and policy advocacy to ensure it takes national security concerns more seriously. But it is even more important that the Department of Commerce tighten up export controls to prevent things like this from ever happening again. It is utterly baffling that despite being privy to this information for months, they have not taken even the most basic actions to protect the country, such as cutting off a company that is literally run by Chinese spies from buying AI chips.

By the way, as of this writing, Nvidia STILL lists Megaspeed as a “regional cloud partner” on its website.

[Paul Mozur 孟建國 @paulmozur]

Nvidia opens investigation into Jensen Huang's relationship with Chinese spy. Remarkable turn in the story overnight in Asia. Wild to think it all started with our reporting a year ago on a suspicious chip importer called Megaspeed: https://t.co/lD4DnNx5oB https://t.co/c046zR0OCq

[Joseph Wen 溫約瑟 @JosephWen___]

我國國防部@MoNDefense 10月8日至11月8日公布之共機艦襲擾動態，套疊我國國安會吳秘書長@josephwutw 所公布之船艦動態（估繪）。

可發現相比2024與2025年之同樣時段，2026年10/8~11/8的公務船每日通報艘數累計則為最高、共艦每日通報艘數累計為次高、共機通報總架次則為最低。

[Thompson Chau @tchau01]

On Taiwan’s local elections: “Cheng’s ambitious foes within the party could try to pin any electoral failures on her… Yet, poor performances in Taipei and New Taipei could be seen not just as a verdict on Cheng but as a reflection of the decline of the KMT establishment itself.”

[Reuters China @ReutersChina]

Taipei's mayoral election this month will be a victory for democracy in the face of pressure from China whoever wins, said the ruling party's candidate who Beijing detests as a "separatist". https://t.co/hUu6Sx5Z0L

[Demetri @AsiaLens]

US lawmakers summon Jensen Huang over Chinese spying concerns https://t.co/1KmpPFDjeZ

[Luke de Pulford @lukedepulford]

Joshua Wong has been robbed of his youth by an insecure regime, forcing him to serve time twice for the same “offences”.

Meanwhile the UK, who, with China promised to uphold Hong Kong’s autonomy, will allow Joshua to pay the price for their failure. “Very concerned”.

[Dan Nystedt @dnystedt]

A China takeover or blockade of Taiwan ends all US work on AI, full stop.

Chips, servers, etc. made here cannot be replaced anytime soon - certainly not by 2035.

[David Demes 戴達衛 @DemesDavid]

Did Berlin get played by Beijing (again)?

[Demetri @AsiaLens]

SCOOP — US, Chinese & Russian officials are discussing a possible trilateral summit between Trump, Xi & Putin in Shenzhen in 2 weeks.

https://t.co/viPhtUSV04

[Collin Koh 🇸🇬🇺🇦 @CollinSLKoh]

Beijing calls this object, intercepted in a PRC-linked commercial shipping container by PNG authorities, a "shell-shaped wine bottle". 🤷🏽‍♂️ https://t.co/DRY5BPvIbh

[Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club (TFCC) @TaiwanFCC]

In late October, the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club hosted @JamestownTweets Senior Fellow Willy Lam for a discussion about Chinese elite politics, Xi Jinping’s leadership and the latest developments inside the Chinese Communist Party.

[David Demes 戴達衛 @DemesDavid]

Encouraging news coming out of Japan today!

[Thompson Chau @tchau01]

Scoop - Japan and Taiwan are working on a broad trade pact, according to sources with direct knowledge of the talks, that could provide a strategic anchor between the Asian tech powers and break a logjam in Taiwanese trade diplomacy. @NikkeiAsia 1/4 https://t.co/6xVOLoGx4b

[Chris McGuire @ChrisRMcGuire]

Reminder: it has been 2 days since it was revealed that the US Intelligence Community told @CommerceGov that a top executive at Megaspeed is a Chinese spy. @BISgov could send an Is Informed Letter to @nvidia today blocking AI chip shipments to Megaspeed, but it has not. Why not?