How is Taiwan’s ‘Silicone Shield’ helping to stop the Chinese invasion?

Just 180 kilometers from the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan is looking at its eternal enemy. They have the same language, the same ancestors, the same race, but the political system is different.

On one side of the Taiwan Strait, Beijing is the capital of a superpower with a population of 1.3 billion and under the control of the Communist Party. Taipei, on the other hand, is the capital of a democratic country with a population of 23 million.
Since the conflict between the two countries in 1949, Taiwan has been denied access to international organizations and still has limited international recognition.
In fact, only 15 countries in the world recognize this land as an independent state. China claims the island as part of its own province.
The Communist Party of China passed a law on separatism in 2005, authorizing the government to use force against Taiwan if it tried to secede from China. Is.
In that case, there is a risk of a military strike on the peninsula if Taiwan declares independence.
In these unfamiliar situations, Taiwan has adopted a strategy that has largely helped it defend itself. This strategy has been dubbed the ‘Silicone Shield’. It is actually a very complex and extensive system of modern industries, from fighter jets to solar panels, video games, and medical devices.
Craig Edison, author of “Silicone Shield: Protection Against Chinese Attack,” explains the reform of the Silicone Shield.
The chip is the “brain” of any electronic device.

What is a silicone shield? How can we explain this?

This means that Taiwan’s status as a country producing high-quality semiconductor (partially insulated) chips is a major obstacle to Chinese military action.
The effects of the war in this part of the world will be so devastating that China’s economy is in danger of being severely damaged and will have to pay a heavy price. This giant Asian country, like the rest of the world’s economic powers, relies on the most sophisticated chip manufactured in Taiwan. These small pieces are made of semiconductor (partially insulated) metals, ie integrated circuits usually made of silicone.

What does this save Taiwan from?

The MAD’s idea of a silicone shield is like the Cold War concept because any military action in the Taiwan Strait would be as harmful to China as it could be to Taiwan and the United States.

In fact, it helps prevent an armed conflict from starting. The cost of armed action, not only for the world but also for China itself, could be so high that Xi Jinping’s government would have to think twice before ordering military action.
Is there a precedent for this protection in recent history?
The fact that the Chinese government has not been able to move forward with its stated intention to seize Taiwan by force if necessary, shows that the “Silicon Shield” is working.
If Taiwan had not been such a major supplier of technology to the world, China would have taken action to occupy the region. During the 1996 missile crisis in the Taiwan Strait, the United States sent two groups of fighter jets to intercept China’s war games to save Taiwan, including firing missiles.

This is a typical example of existing interests so that there is no attack. Analysts believe that China wanted to intimidate Taiwan when it conducted military exercises in the Strait in 1996.

How does America get into conflict?

Most military experts agree that China does not have the military capability to launch a full-scale offensive against Taiwan. In a statement to the US Congress in June, General Mark Millie, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the attack would be “extraordinarily complex and costly” for China.
When deciding on military action against Taiwan, China will also have to consider whether the United States will come forward to defend the island.
It is hard to believe that the United States will remain silent and allow China to occupy Taiwan by force. Why?

Disruption of global high-tech supplies will hurt the US economy itself, and the attack could lead to China’s takeover of the world’s most advanced chip factories.
In addition, another major threat to the United States could be the acquisition of state-of-the-art weapons that Washington has sold to Taipei over the past few years.

Does anyone think that the United States will allow this to happen in silence?

Has the United States maintained a consistent policy on Taiwan under different governments? When President Jimmy Carter unilaterally established diplomatic relations with Beijing in 1979 and severed official ties with Taiwan, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which authorizes the sale of defense weapons to Taiwan.
US policy toward Taiwan is one of “strategic ambiguity.” The United States wants to maintain this ambiguity because it is difficult for China to predict how the United States will react if it uses force against Taiwan.
In 2001, President George W. Bush said he would do “anything” to save Taiwan from Chinese aggression.

But most other presidents of the United States say nothing in public, although their actions go beyond words. As I mentioned earlier, in the 1996 Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis, President Bill Clinton sent a strong message to Beijing, ordering two warships to monitor Chinese military exercises.
The Trump administration has forged close military ties with Taiwan, including the authority to sell modern weapons to Taipei.

And this policy of close relations continues under President Joe Biden. In early June, a delegation of US senators arrived in Taiwan on a Boeing C17 as part of the Biden Code 19 Vaccine Donation Program.
The appearance of the American giant plane at an airport in Taiwan was seen by China as another sign of Washington’s support for the small area.

What does the lack of semiconductor microchips in the market have to do with Taiwan?

The automotive industry began to suffer from a shortage of semiconductors, as the car industry was unable to keep pace with the growing demand for code. At first, he canceled his chip orders but then he realized that he had to stand at the end of the line to wait for new orders.

Later, it also reduced production in other electronic products, including laptops and game consoles, which were in high demand around the world due to the lockdown.
Taiwan is a major supplier of chips to these products, and this situation has hampered the global supply chain.

Is there a country that is technically self-sufficient?

No country is self-sufficient in all aspects of technology and certainly not in semiconductors. In recent decades, the semiconductor industry has disintegrated and different parts of the supply chain have been created by different locations and companies around the world.
Chip design is mainly done in the USA, board manufacturing is done in Taiwan and chip assembly and testing are done in China or Southeast Asia.
China is planning to become a chip-making powerhouse, how long will it take to free itself from dependence on Taiwan?

China is not the only country that wants to free itself from dependence on Taiwan. It also applies to the United States, Europe, and Japan.

Self-sufficiency in semiconductor manufacturing, if it involves the entire supply chain from chip design to board manufacturing, is practically impossible. Even if it were technically possible, the cost of acquiring it would be prohibited for any country.
This applies not only to China but also to the United States. So, in that sense, everything about self-reliance in China is misleading. What China is trying to achieve in its so-called “self-sufficiency” campaign is to reduce its reliance on imported chips, which means it wants to be able to make its own chips at home.