Pacific Standard 🚜🌻☂️

An American perspective at the western frontier of liberal democracy, framed and focused through the lens of life in Taiwan. #NeoIdealist

#TaiwanIsACountry

[Helen Raleigh @HRaleighspeaks]

Marco Rubio will make the history as the first U.S. Secretary of State sanctioned by the U.S. to visit China. In 2020, Beijing sanctioned him twice in retaliation for U.S. actions targeting Chinese officials believed to be involved in human rights abuses in Xinjiang, as well as those in mainland China and Hong Kong responsible for the harsh crackdown on the 2019 protests. It's a bit surprising that the Trump administration didn’t push for the removal of these sanctions against Rubio before agreeing to a summit between Trump and Xi. We'll see how this unfolds in the next few days. https://t.co/OOsmzglFgq

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

There are 56 ethnicities in China—and 55 are getting squashed. A new law passed by the Chinese legislature is a grim milestone in the Communist Party’s harder-line approach to ethnic politics https://t.co/ZCyRIwL1Us

[🖤 Christine @christinelu]

Peekaboo.

[Jojje Olsson @jojjeols]

"Yet it is not China that erases Taiwan, it is us -- the governments, institutions and corporations of the democratic countries who profess to share the same ideals as the Taiwanese people." https://t.co/YmQRvvhQpG

[Pacific Standard 🚜🌻☂️ @PacStandardTW]

All day long @cursor_ai ... "CreatePlan tool failed because I wasn't providing the required parameters correctly—I need to pass a lowercase "plan" field with the detailed implementation steps, along with the name, overview, and todos array according to the schema."

[Select Committee on China @ChinaSelect]

The CCP is pursuing AI dominance by 2030. And when it cannot compete fairly, it steals.

@YusufSMahmood from @A1Policy explains:
"We are not prepared to secure our AI systems. If we decided tomorrow that it was a top national security priority to prevent the CCP from stealing our most capable AI software, we would face extraordinary challenges. We're starting from a vulnerable position. The CCP seeks full AI domination by 2030, and it lacks the capital and talent to win fairly, so it steals. These aren't theoretical harms right now. Chinese AI, developed from stolen American technology, is helping Iran target American warfighters."

[Rush Doshi @RushDoshi]

Remarkable episode that shows why @dwarkesh_sp is one of the best interviewers around.

He admits no view on whether we should export chips to China and patiently probes Jensen Huang's assumptions.

The result is a truly revealing exchange and required viewing.

[Alec Stapp @AlecStapp]

Here’s the one chart that shows Jensen is lying about the AI compute balance between the US and China.

When measured on an apples-to-apples basis, China’s domestic production is tiny compared to the amount of compute they could access if we sell them NVIDIA chips.

[AFP News Agency @AFP]

#BREAKING Trump says Iran has agreed to hand over its enriched uranium supply

[Select Committee on China @ChinaSelect]

Chairman @RepMoolenaar joined @MariaBartiromo today to outline China's multi-front strategy: finance, technology transfer, and influence operations, all reinforcing one another.

China continues to buy Iran's oil, enable sanctions evasion for the regimes in Moscow and Tehran, and expand its influence operations in the U.S.

[Alec Stapp @AlecStapp]

This is the key moment between Jensen and Dwarkesh on export controls:

1. Dwarkesh asks why it’s okay to sell NVIDIA chips to China given the national security implications of AI models like Mythos.

2. Jensen gives a misleading answer, arguing that it’s okay to sell American chips to China because China already produces 60% of the world’s chips.

3. But as Jensen definitely knows, compute is measured in flops, not number of chips.

4. Dwarkesh then pushes back, pointing out that on a flops basis, China has 10% of the compute the US has, and giving them more compute would change their cyber capabilities.

This exchange shows why it’s critically important for interviewers to have at least some technical knowledge, so they can push back against misleading talking points.

[Pacific Standard 🚜🌻☂️ @PacStandardTW]

Shockingly, KMT-aligned interests in Washington don’t like the fact that the US government is progressively waking up to the reality that for years—decades—they’ve quietly advanced CCP priorities under the cover of “strengthening US–Taiwan relations.”

[Shukri Hamk 🇦🇺 @Yazidisto]

Breaking🚨: Saghar Gholami is now in imminent danger of execution by The Islamic Regime.
Only because she participated in the January protests.

She’s only 19.
This is pure barbarism.
Share this before they kill her.

[Matt Stoller @matthewstoller]

It’s an indictment of deregulation. There have been dozens of bankruptcies and liquidations in a constantly bailed out industry. But hey Wall Street gonna Wall Street.

[Margaret Brennan @margbrennan]

During the 10 day ceasefire in Lebanon secured by the U.S., Israel will only respond militarily to 'imminent threats from Hezbollah" an Israeli official tells me, and describes it as in keeping with the 2024 era deal. This will be a test for the Lebanese state armed forces (LAF) & whether they can contain Hezbollah. Trump said General Caine as well as VP Vance & SecState Rubio will be involved.

[Pacific Standard 🚜🌻☂️ @PacStandardTW]

Unable to reach the model provider, who dis

[Pacific Standard 🚜🌻☂️ @PacStandardTW]

Posting on https://t.co/IWrWXHEOeL should reveal the depths of desperation @cursor_ai, can't do any work at all right now, "Unable to reach the model provider" for *all* models bruh...

[Pacific Standard 🚜🌻☂️ @PacStandardTW]

Posting on https://t.co/IWrWXHEOeL should reveal the depths of desperation @cursor_ai, can't do any work at all right now, "Unable to reach the model provider" for *all* models bruh...

[Mike Pompeo @mikepompeo]

This is highly disturbing. There is absolutely no reason why CCP-linked researchers should have access to sensitive American facilities.

[Tibet.Net @CTA_TibetdotNet]

Documentary exposing China’s ongoing colonisation of Tibet nominated for Emmy Award https://t.co/IFNqQwLvci

[Denise Wu @denisewu]

Iran has received more shipments of likely sodium perchlorate, a crucial precursor for solid missile propellant, from China.

If Arab states want Iran to cease its bombing, they should stop selling oil to China.