China sticks national security probe into America's Micron

The Chinese government has opened an investigation into US memory vendor Micron citing national security risks. The investigation, announced in a brief statement by Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), offers little in terms of detail. Translated from Chinese, the agency cites potential “security risks caused by hidden …

[NoneSuch]

“Micron is committed to conducting all business with uncompromising integrity, and we stand by the security of our products and our commitments to customers,”

Excellent, now if only the CCP had the same attitude all of this could be avoided.

[VoiceOfTruth]

You need to look harder

-> We take this to mean China is hunting for back doors baked into Micron’s products that could pose a threat to its national security.

That is one way to look at it. Back when Reagan was president American overlord, the USA deliberately sold the Soviet Union broken computer equipment - digital Trojan horses. China knows all about this, and is probably wondering what is really being sold to them. A reference:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/02/27/reagan-approved-plan-to-sabotage-soviets/a9184eff-47fd-402e-beb2-63970851e130/

[I.E. an Erich Hartmann]

Indeed

How unfair of the Americans to supply only low-quality rope for their own hanging !

As Magiie put it: socialism always fails as soon as they run out of other people's money.

[Gary Stewart]

Re: Indeed

And capitalism fails when the oligarchs have most of the money (and the power it buys.)

[cyberdemon]

Re: You need to look harder

ftfy:

> China knows all about this, and is employing exactly that tactic on a much bigger scale as part of its soft war with the west.

Hence all the just-barely-working tat that comes over from China at loss-making prices (aka "dumping") to put all of the local western manufacturers out of business while installing their broken / backdoored tech into western society.

E.g. here in the West, we are happily banning all of the internal combustion engines that we are able to produce locally, while all we can do to build EVs is to put a box with seats in on top of a pre-assembled Chinese powertrain.

For reference, see the first few minutes of Greg Wallace's horrifying programme on Double Decker Buses..

[VoiceOfTruth]

Re: You need to look harder

-> Hence all the just-barely-working tat that comes over from China at loss-making prices (aka "dumping") to put all of the local western manufacturers out of business while installing their broken / backdoored tech into western society.

Huawei? It was and is better and cheaper than Cisco and doesn't have American backdoors. That is why it is being banned.

[cyberdemon]

Re: You need to look harder

I didn't necessarily mean Huawei. I'm talking about electrical, electronic and mechanical goods in general, especially at the hobbyist / light industrial sector of the market (I can't really speak for other sectors tbh). Power tools, lab equipment, anything you might buy on Amazon almost always comes from China at impossibly low prices, but both the documentation, build quality, and functionality are shit. But because of the price they push other manufacturers out of the market.

It's like those single-use vapes that are flooding the market, each with a would-be-rechargeable lithium battery inside which is worth more than what you pay for the vape. They are so cheap that the once booming refillable vape industry has basically collapsed, kids are becoming addicted to the things because they are so easy to find since they are everywhere, and people are throwing perfectly good batteries into the bin by their millions. That's a classic example of dumping, and combined with an addictive drug it's an Opium War tactic.

In the IT world the biggest example I can think of is security cameras. How many IP cameras can you buy that aren't made in China? How much extra do you have to pay for a non-Chinese one? How many of the cheap Chinese cameras are backdoored?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ho Hum .... again !!!

Is there anyone on the planet who does not expect 'Tit for Tat' between the US of A and China !!!

This is what to expect when 'Political' ideals and 'Mercenary as in Money' ideals conflict.'

Spoiling China's revenue stream will not be ignored and as so many of our global companies use china for cheap manufacturing they do need to beware suprise 'investigations'

:)

Globalisation only works IF there is stable politics / relationships that enable making lots of money on all sides !!!

:)

[FIA]

This is the problem with idiots like Trump. They stoke the xenophobia and nationalism, and wiser heads tut to themselves.

Unfortunately when they've gone we never seem to undo the damage they've done.

[Anonymous Coward]

Is hand on fire worse than hand not on arm?

I've been worried about PRC just slightly longer than I've been worried about Trump - 40+ years. Fools who think Trump is the only problem are only slightly better than the fools who think Trump isn't a problem.

[I.E. an Erich Hartmann]

Finally, Well Done, Japan

Japan apparently is scared of China and requested not just the USAF, but also Luftwaffe and Deutsche Marine to "show the flag" in the defence of Japan. Six Jäger 90s were sent on the long journey and five made it to Japan !

https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/konnichiwa-luftwaffe-eurofighter-ueber-dem-fujiyama-im-vorgarten-chinas-81459274.bild.html

https://www.dw.com/de/fregatte-bayern-im-hafen-von-tokio-eingelaufen/a-59734011

At the same, time Japanese businesspeople are keen to trade as much as possible with China. Thereby aiding the development of China's War Machine.

Good to see that the government of Japan has finally got the priorities right !

Free Trade must be secondary to peace and stability !

[Gary Stewart]

Re: Finally, Well Done, Japan

The Japanese are also finally coming out of their post WWII isolationist cocoon and starting to talk about building up their own defensive capabilities. This is good news to the US and all the other Asian Pacific nations that appose China's ongoing expansion in the South China Sea.

[Anonymous Coward]

@I.E. an Erich Hartmann - Re: Finally, Well Done, Japan

And how to you get peace and stability with hostile economic measures ? As for peace and stability, I would invite you to do some research on the amount of bombs dispensed by US vs China in the post Korean war. Yeah sure, each country US has bombed/invaded was solely to maintain peace and stability in order to make trade flourish.

[Ashto5]

Dept of the bleeding obvious

Wow really

[SnOOpy168]

Well, you sure those China-made iPhones & iPad don't have the same issues as well ? Maybe Apple didn't know ?

[Pascal Monett]

Slowly but surely

We are well on the path of finally getting our "we've always been at war with Eastasia".

Just a matter of time now . . .