Why is Britain selling its biggest semiconductor chip factory to China?
UAs a top US foreign policy objective, the UK has authorized the sale to China of its largest semiconductor chip maker, Newport Wafer Fab. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to have given up on his commitment to more actively protect this area of the supply chain. As Tom Tugendhat, an influential Conservative parliamentarian, pointed out CNBC, it was only last month that Johnson pledged to take action to build economic resilience in critical global supply chains, such as semiconductors. It appears to be an immediate and very public reversal. of this commitment . That is to say politely. But there is nothing polite about how Beijing intends to use wins like this. They are designed to advance Chinas global economic and military hegemony, a hegemony that Beijing would then use to extract political obedience and economic feudalism. Considering what Communist China is doing to its own people, the United States has good reason to want help from Johnson and other Allied leaders. Washington needs this allied action to ensure that democracies rather than Beijing set the rules of the game for the 21st century. The question of semiconductors is particularly important. These chips are key building blocks for computers, cell phones, networks, and processors. They are essential for both economic and national security reasons. Amid a global shortage of semiconductor foundries, companies like Newport Wafer Fab are invaluable. While the Dutch company Nexperia will buy Newport Wafer Fab, this is only the tip of the iceberg as Nexperia is owned by Wingtech, a Chinese company. And the owner of Wingtech is Zhang Xuezheng, an entrepreneur with close and long-standing ties to the Chinese Communist Party. This purchase should therefore not be seen purely, or even primarily, from the point of view of commercial interest. Instead, it is a direct and substantial means of support for Chinas pursuit of global domination. Xi Jinping did not simply gain new access to exceptionally valuable intellectual property. He did so in a way that very publicly undermines any efforts by the United States to contradict him. The Biden administration has argued to its allies that this struggle with China is about more than the economy and security, that at bottom, the struggle with China is about the values, the influence of free peoples and democracies in the face of to a rapacious authoritarianism. . Until recently, Newport Wafer Fabs largest shareholder, Drew Nelson, supported patriotic entrepreneurship of the kind that Zhang obviously offers to China. A year ago, Nelson was story the Telegraph that the UK needed a sovereign semiconductor chip industry to compete with China. The $ 15 million Nelson will receive under this deal apparently caused him to change his tone. The businessmans biggest namesake would shudder at his hypocrisy. If he was so capable, Newport Wafer Fabs website might shake as well. This sale, after all, is rather incompatible with the commitment to act ethically and with integrity in all business dealings. Much like the American multinationals that do business in China, the rhetoric is not worth much. Still, the real complaint here should fall on Johnson. Despite all his puns on special relationships, it seems Americas closest ally leader isnt really interested in this relationship. Yet at least America has Australia.