First Short Quiz – Questions Before Opening “Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company”

[johnkarls]

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A worthwhile exercise before opening a book is to ask yourself what you expect it to address so that you think reading it is worthwhile. For example --


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1. In 1980 did President Deng Ziaoping designate Shenzhen a “special economic zone” which produced a boomtown – 300 thousand in 1980 to 7 million in 2000 to 18 million in 2020???

2. Is the success of Shenzhen built on the manufacturing of iPhones???

3. Which, per the London Financial Times, has turned Shenzhen into the world’s most innovative electronics hub???

4. BTW, is Shenzhen the area just north of Hong Kong which, in 1980, was still a British colony???

5. Were two of the most lucrative TAIWANESE business models --

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) WHICH DEVELOPED TAIWAN so that [per The (London) Economist on 3/6/2023] Taiwan produces over 60% of the world's semiconductors and over 90% of the most advanced ones???

• Another Taiwan company (whose name I cannot locate or remember at the moment) WHICH DEVELOPED MAINLAND CHINA by doing all the work of establishing zillions of manufacturing enclaves such as Shenzhen??? Which were then used by American companies to do their manufacturing???


6. Isn’t it true that the People’s Republic (Mainland) China has NEVER had dominion over Taiwan???

7. In other words --

• The Manchurians ruled China 1644-1912 (called the Qing Dynasty) and were defeated by the Nationalists under Sun Yat Sen in 1912.

• However, Taiwan had already been ceded to Japan in 1895 at the end of the first Sino-Japanese War.

• It remained under Japanese rule until the end of World War II – with BTW military-age Taiwanese males fighting in the Japanese Army against China!!!

• It then fell under control of the Nationalists since it was behind their lines during the Chinese Civil War 1945-1949.

• And following the defeat of the Nationalists by the Communists in 1949, the Nationalist government and military forces retreated to Taiwan – with a million mainlanders joining the pre-existing 7 million Taiwanese. [NB: per the CIA World Factbook, the current population of Taiwan is 24 million.]


8. Does this mean the PRC has no more legal claim to Taiwan than it has to –

• Singapore – 74.2% of 6.0 million are Chinese (per CIA’s World Factbook)

• Malaysia – 20.6% of 34.2 million Chinese (per CIA’s World Factbook)

• San Francisco – 37.3% “Asian alone” per U.S. Census Bureau (no further breakdown for Chinese)


9. And didn’t China “digest” Hong Kong in no time flat???

10. BTW, has there been languishing in our website’s Sec. 3 (Possible Topics for Future Meetings) since 12/3/2023 “Realpolitik - Has Taiwan Been Prudent Enough To Buy/Develop Sufficient Nuclear Weapons To Deter China?”???

11. Does this month’s Reference Materials section include a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Why the China Doves Are Wrong – American business leaders cozying up to Beijing refuse to see that the Communist Party wants us to fail”???

12. Should America’s four-decade-long pre-Trump policy of exporting American manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries such as China be curtailed in terms of legislation???

13. Is there any need to brand American business leaders such as Steve Jobs “American traitors” as implied by the WSJ article???

14. After all, wouldn’t it already be hard enough to curtail legislatively America’s policy of exporting American manufacturing jobs to low-wage countries such as China in the wake of Barack Obama’s single-handedly destroying the 1976-2008 public-financing of Presidential campaigns and making it the private playground of billionaires???

15. Indeed, when Meghan McCain was still the “token” conservative on ABC’s “The View,” did we write a 3/21/2020 letter to each of the co-hosts and producers of “The View” entitled “Worth The Fighting For – The Honorable U.S. Senator John S. McCain III -- His Dream of Campaign-Finance Reform and What You Can Do To Help”???

16. Had we previously written to Sen. McCain on 5/20/2018 when he was still alive urging him to “Resurrect and Re-Invigorate McCain-Feingold”???

17. Was ABC’s “The View” turning its back on campaign-finance reform after our 3/21/2020 plea to help restore democracy in America, LIKE BARACK OBAMA’S DESTROYING OF PUCLIC-FINANCING OF POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS, a bald-faced power grab???

18. Have these questions gone quite far afield from “Apple in China”???

19. Are you willing to pardon Yours Truly for doing so because of the importance of the issues involved (starting with preserving democracy – vs. making American elections the private playground of billionaires}???

20. And perhaps even admit that all of these matters should be addressed by “Apple in China”???