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John Liu
For John Liu's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Tesla Model 3 assembly line at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, in 2018. Before the Shanghai plant opened, Fremont was Tesla’s principal factory.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 27, 2024
A pivot to China saved Elon Musk. It also binds him to Beijing.
Musk is now treading a fine line, sounding the alarm about Chinese rivals, even as he remains reliant on the Chinese market.
China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence — Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.
BUSINESS / Tech
Feb 22, 2024
China’s rush to dominate AI has a twist: It depends on U.S. technology
Even as the United States has tried to slow China’s advancements, it has not held back the practice of openly releasing software to encourage its adoption.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 14, 2023
Taiwan is running low on a strategic asset: engineers
A shrinking population, demanding work culture and an abundance of competing tech jobs have meant workers have become ever more scarce.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 3, 2023
‘On a tightrope’: How Taiwan’s president navigated the U.S. and China
Known for her quiet pragmatism, Tsai Ing-wen has ushered in a new era of American cooperation as worries about Chinese aggression rise.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 25, 2022
In a challenge to Beijing, unrest over COVID lockdowns spreads
Protests have broken out in Guangzhou and at an iPhone factory in central China, while online many have raged at authorities after the death of a girl was blamed on COVID-19 restrictions.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 17, 2022
COVID-19 lockdown chaos sets off a rare protest in a Chinese city
A lengthy lockdown and shortages of food prompted Guangzhou residents to take to the streets, a reflection of growing public frustration with China's 'COVID zero' policy.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 26, 2022
Why people are flocking to a symbol of Taiwan’s authoritarian past
The Jing-Mei White Terror Memorial Park, housed on the campus of a former military school, is a chilling reminder of the excesses of Taiwan's not-so-distant authoritarian past.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
Aug 30, 2022
‘The eye of the storm’: Taiwan is caught in a great game over microchips
Taiwan is the biggest producer of the world's most advanced chips. It is also rapidly becoming one of the world's most dangerous geopolitical flashpoints.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 6, 2022
Fight or surrender: Taiwan’s generational divide on China’s threats
Conflicting allegiances dominate Taiwan politics, with debates over China breaking down along the lines of age, identity and geography.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 15, 2022
China’s surveillance state hits rare resistance from its own subjects
As China builds up its vast surveillance and security apparatus, it is running up against growing public unease about the lack of safeguards to prevent the theft or misuse of personal data.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jun 27, 2022
‘An invisible cage’: How China is policing the future
The latest generation of technology digs through vast amounts of data to find patterns and aberrations, promising to predict crimes or protests before they happen.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 5, 2022
Mourning Tiananmen’s victims, and the Hong Kong that was
Since 2020, when Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong, the local government has essentially banned public commemorations of the 1989 killings.
Japan Times
WORLD
Apr 12, 2022
China’s echoes of Russia’s alternate reality intensify globally
The campaign by China has further undercut the country's effort to present itself as a neutral actor in the war, eager to promote a peaceful resolution.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 3, 2022
‘Totally inhumane’: Child separations feed anger in a locked-down Shanghai
The fury and concern of parents over what might become of their children if they fall sick is the latest in a series of crises faced by Shanghai officials.
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Dec 24, 2021
Intel apologizes over its statement on forced labor in Xinjiang
Intel is the latest example of a multinational firm that has struggled to balance compliance with U.S. sanctions against Xinjiang and Chinese nationalist sentiment.
BUSINESS
Sep 17, 2007
'IClones' steal market share as Apple bides time in Asia
SANCHUNG, Taipei

Longform

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