“ECONOMIC SECURITY” Civil aviation authorities have had to check every flight that has been threatened, many by messages posted on X, formerly Twitter. The government warning did not mention any social media company by name, but cited an advisory notice from the information technology ministry. “The scale of (the) spreadContinue Reading
PUBLISHED : 27 Oct 2024 at 06:12
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says transboundary hydropower dam projects along the Mekong River pose a risk to Thailand’s environment, economy and community safety.
In a letter submitted to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Oct 3, the NHRC said it had outlined its concerns regarding four hydropower dam projects: the Ban Koum Dam, the Sanakham Dam, the Phou Ngoy Dam and the Pak Chom Dam, all on the Lower Mekong along the Thai-Lao border. The developers are registered Thai companies.
The NHRC’s move followed complaints by locals over the potential impact on the environment and living conditions and the possible violation of human rights the dam projects would cause.
Examining the proposals, the NHRC found that, although these dams would be built on the Lao side of the Mekong River, they’re located close to Thailand, so the risk of cross-border impacts is high, especially in Loei and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
An NHRC report said the projects would harm the environment, hydrology and fisheries, economy and society, and border security and territorial integrity.
The dams would change the natural water flow, leading to riverbank erosion, aquatic animal migration, and a collapse of the freshwater ecological system.
A large volume of water discharged by the dams during the rainy season would cause severe major flooding in surrounding areas.
Work on the dam may cause changes in the deep water channel, which would affect the Thai-Lao boundary line demarcation process underway by the Joint Boundary Commission (JBC).
The NHRC urged the Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) to consider the impacts the hydropower dam projects may cause.
It also suggested the Energy Ministry review its electricity purchasing plan and consider alternative energy sources that do not have such drastic impacts.
The NHRC said that the government, investors, and developers are responsible for respecting human rights based on the constitution and the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGP) on Business and Human Rights.
The Ministry of Justice should ensure the operations of all four projects are consistent with UNGP principles and have measures to mitigate impacts and prevent risks consistent with human rights principles.
Pianporn Deetes, a campaign director with the Southeast Asia Program at International Rivers, a non-profit organisation protecting river-dependent and dam-affected communities, said the NHRC letter was a welcome development.
She said the Mekong mainstream dams have devastating impacts on riverside communities and are useless for Thailand’s energy needs. The government should cancel plans to buy electricity from more mainstream dams.
Montree Chantawong, a coordinator with the Mekong Butterfly, a group that works on protecting the Mekong Basin’s natural resources, said the government should consider the NHRC’s suggestions.
PUBLISHED : 26 Oct 2024 at 08:30
Defence Minister Phumtham Wechayachai denounced a move by political activists to petition the Constitutional Court to revoke a 2001 memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Thailand and Cambodia, established during the administration of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr Phumtham, also a deputy prime minister, on Friday voiced his opposition to the bid to revoke the MoU, which critics claim could facilitate overlapping maritime interests that might disadvantage Thailand, particularly concerning Koh Kut in Trat province.
Mr Phumtham said the MoU, managed effectively by former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai, has consistently recognised Koh Kut as Thai territory, with no contention from Cambodia.
“Every nation adheres to the principle that its territory is 200 nautical miles from the continental shelf; nevertheless, because the Gulf of Thailand is so small, there are overlapping territories on both sides,” he said.
“Many nations in this world, including Malaysia and Vietnam, use the method of talking to each other to agree on benefits, but it does not mean talking about territory. Regarding our territory, it has been clear since the French colonial map showed that Koh Kut belongs to Thailand.”
He said there is no need to worry about whether Thailand will lose Koh Kut to Cambodia, adding that the important thing is the possibility of oil.
“If nothing is done within 10 years, drilling oil from the overlapping area in the Gulf of Thailand will be meaningless since more people will switch from combustion engine cars to electric ones. This is a pity that the country will lose an opportunity to benefit from this resource,” he said.
Meanwhile, ML Kornkasiwat Kasemsri, an executive member of the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), urged the government to present the 2001 MoU to parliament for revocation, arguing that negotiating with Cambodia under this MoU framework would accept the overlapping territories, leading to the risk of losing Koh Kut.
A French-Siamese treaty signed during King Rama V’s reign stated that the French ceded the territories of Dan Sai and Trat to Siam, including all islands located south of Laem Ling (Laem Sing), including Koh Kut, he said.
However, he said that the 2001 MoU accepted Cambodia’s borderline, with no international law supporting it. The Thai government said they could jointly extract oil and gas to lower energy prices. However, this was untrue, as the Thai government had already given petroleum concessions to Western companies while Thailand would only receive royalties and taxes, which were considered small.
SRT approves 2nd phase, B28.6bn bid
PUBLISHED : 26 Oct 2024 at 07:15
Construction of the second phase of the double-track railway from Khon Kaen to Nong Khai, worth 28.6 billion baht, will begin at the end of this year and take roughly three years to complete, said Governor Veeris Ammarapala of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT).
According to Mr Veeris, the SRT board meeting on Thursday approved the bid result for the phase-two double-track railway project between Khon Kaen and Nong Khai.
The lowest bidder, CHO Thavee-AS Construction joint venture, was selected for the project, promising a value of 28 billion baht which was below the initial set price.
Four companies, namely Sino-Thai Engineering & Construction PCL, CH Karnchang PCL, Unique Engineering and Construction PCL and CHO Thavee-AS Construction joint venture, submitted bids.
The selection followed a thorough review by the Special Project and Construction Department and the result was that the CHO Thavee-AS Construction joint venture met all required criteria.
Next steps will be document verification, followed by a contract signing with the bid winner. The signing is expected to take place by next month.
The Notice to Proceed (NTP) will be issued between December and January. Construction is expected to take 1,080 days.
The railway project, a key route linking Chira Junction in Nakhon Ratchasima to Khon Kaen and Udon Thani, and ending in Nong Khai province, is part of Thailand’s move to develop its transport infrastructure under the Intercity Network Development plan, as approved by the cabinet in October last year.
The project design involves constructing an additional parallel rail line along the existing one, with new route adjustments over a total distance of approximately 167 kilometres.
The work also includes the construction of 14 stations, four halts and three cargo yards with signalling and telecommunication systems along the line. It is expected to be finished and fully open by 2027.
“This route will boost rail logistics for both freight and passenger services. It will reduce logistics costs, travel time by 1 to 1.5 hours, fuel consumption and environmental pollution while improving safety by reducing risks at railway crossings,” Mr Veeris said.
“This project will significantly upgrade rail transport efficiency and convenience for commuters, creating connections for goods transport across regions.”
Meanwhile, a local media source reported that train passengers using the first phase of the double-track railway (from Chira Junction to Khon Kaen) have complained about the inadequate roofing of a passenger platform, as well as a steep footbridge.
US authorities say cybercriminals linked to China may have attempted to tap into the phones or networks used by former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, a number of sources familiar with the matter confirmed to the BBC’s US news partner, CBS News.
The sources said the Trump-Vance campaign had been alerted to the fact that phones used by Trump and Vance may have been among the targets of a broader cyber attack.
People affiliated with the Harris-Walz campaign were also targeted, a person familiar told BBC News.
It is unclear how much information, if any, may have been compromised.
The Department of Justice and the FBI declined to comment on whether candidates were targeted.
A joint statement from the FBI and the Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said the US government was investigating the “unauthorised access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China”.
They said after the “malicious activity” was identified, the agencies “immediately notified affected companies, rendered technical assistance, and rapidly shared information to assist other potential victims,” adding that the investigation was ongoing.
“Agencies across the US government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defences across the commercial communications sector,” they added.
The Trump campaign blamed Democrats for the hack, claiming without evidence that it was an attempt “to prevent President Trump from returning to the White House”.
Law enforcement is currently treating the hack as an act of espionage, not as an attempt at campaign influence, one source told CBS.
Earlier this month it emerged that US telecommunications companies had been targeted in a hack.
One of the companies affected is said to be Verizon, through which the hackers are thought to have potentially targeted Trump and Vance’s data, according to the New York Times, who first reported the story.
In a statement, Verizon spokesman Rich Young said the company was “aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several US telecommunications providers to gather intelligence.”
He said Verizon is assisting law enforcement agencies in the investigation and working to address any further problems.
The Trump campaign has already been the target of one hack earlier this year.
Three Iranians nationals linked to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were charged in September with deliberately attempting to undermine a presidential campaign.
US government agencies and officials have long-warned of the threat of foreign interference in the US, including US elections.
“Our adversaries do look at American elections as points to try to influence, to try to undermine confidence in our democracy, to try to put their thumb on the scale,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in the summer. “We are clear eyed about that. And we are doing a lot to push back against it”.
In January, the issue was discussed in Congress, with FBI Director Christopher Wray warning that Chinese hackers were preparing to “wreak havoc and cause real-world harm” to the US.
Lawyer sounds alarm about trafficking in placentas and umbilical cords as well as other body parts
PUBLISHED : 25 Oct 2024 at 20:52
Authorities will take action against illegal stem cell production and trafficking in infant placentas, umbilical cords and other human body parts, an adviser to the prime minister said on Friday.
Jirayu Houngsab made the comment after receiving information from lawyer Songkan Atchariyasap about networks that traffic human parts.
Mr Jirayu said this was a relatively new and shocking issue for the country to contend with, and the government has been working with the police to combat it.
Mr Songkan, who filed the complaint on Thursday, said he was contacted earlier by a petitioner who was an employee at a stem cell manufacturing company.
The petitioner claimed the company was generating stem cells from placentas and umbilical cords without the owners’ consent.
The petitioner said he had been working with the company for eight years without being aware of the legal implications.
After he learned that the process required legal authorisation, the petitioner said that he immediately resigned from the job.
The former employee said he had evidence of the company’s operations but did not know where it obtained its materials from.
According to Mr Songkan, illegal stem cell companies normally generate stem cells from the placentas and umbilical cords of infants with O-type blood.
As mothers usually do not claim ownership of those parts, some nurses were reported to have smuggled them out of hospitals for sale for between 5,000 and 10,000 baht apiece, Mr Songkan said.
He claimed that some employees at public hospitals in Bangkok were also involved with the illegal organ-selling networks.
Donald Trump loves tariffs. Making things more expensive if they come from foreign countries is at the heart of his bid for a second term in the White House.
“Tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented,” he said in September 2024 at a town hall event in Michigan. And he has promised that if he becomes US president again, he will impose an across-the-board tariff of up to 20% on imports – and even 200% on cars from Mexico – in a bid to encourage American manufacturing.
This is familiar ground for Trump, who showed he was fond of tariffs during his 2017-2021 presidency. Back then, he claimed his policy would address the trade imbalance with China, bring manufacturing jobs back to the US and raise revenues.
Tariffs were then imposed on a wide range of goods, from imported steel and aluminum to solar panels and washing machines.
But did they work? Our research suggests not.
In fact, we found that imposing tariffs actually made the US even more reliant on foreign suppliers – and failed to stimulate the domestic job market. They also raised costs for US consumers and provoked retaliatory tariffs from trading partners including China, the EU, Canada, Mexico, India and Turkey.
China for example, responded by trebling tariffs on American cars. The EU filed a dispute with the World Trade Organization and substantially raised tariffs on US exports including Harley Davidson motorcycles, jeans and bourbon whiskey.
And Trump’s tariffs did not lead to a boost for US manufacturing either. After tariffs were imposed, our research shows US manufacturing supply chains evolved to have fewer suppliers – but it was often US firms that got forced out of those supply chains, not their competitors from overseas.
We found that US manufacturers appeared to reduce their global reach, while actually increasing their dependence on a select few foreign companies – further evidence that Trump’s tariffs failed to produce the intended outcome.
Our research also suggests that “reshoring” – bringing production and manufacturing back to a company’s home country – is not feasible without an established ecosystem of suppliers, intermediaries and customers.
So introducing trade barriers without adequate support for the development of regional supply chains is unlikely to result in stronger local economies or more jobs.
Essentially, for reshoring to work, the domestic economy needs to have the capacity to match demand. But the US (like the UK) has lost manufacturing capability in many areas, and rebuilding it is not going to happen overnight.
Establishing a new industry requires buildings, skilled staff and supply chains – and a very specific approach is required for each industry. Getting the right skills and labor is often the trickiest part and may require immigration.
However, even this may not work in the most complex industries. In the case of computer chips, for example, there are generous incentives in the US under the Biden administration to encourage chip manufacturing.
Yet Taiwan still massively dominates the market, raising questions over whether the US could ever really compete.
Other industries that can use automation and robotics in manufacturing (such as chemicals and transportation equipment) might be easier to reboot, but they may not generate the expected number and range of jobs.
And often reshoring strategies involve higher investment in automation, machinery and robotics, rather than jobs. Trump’s focus may have been bringing back manufacturing jobs back to the US, but the truth is that many of these jobs may be gone forever.
Overall then, imposing tariffs without adequate domestic support mechanisms in place has led to US manufacturers increasing their dependence on foreign suppliers and reducing their dependence on local ones.
Yet tariffs are not exclusively favored by Trump – or even right-wing politics. And there seems to be a fairly common view among politicians in the west that some tariffs can be an effective economic tool.
Trade barriers against China for instance, have continued under Joe Biden’s administration (although he has somewhat relaxed tariffs for imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico). And recently, Canada imposed 100% tariffs on Chinese cars and 25% on Chinese steel and aluminium, while the EU has also imposed tariffs on Chinese goods.
One of the few voices speaking out against tariffs is former US vice president Mike Pence. He recently proposed scrapping tariffs, saying they just made products more expensive for consumers and failed to improve prosperity.
His old boss clearly disagrees. And if Trump does win a second term in office, it seems certain that imposing international tariffs will be high up on his “to-do” list. But if their impact is anything like the last time, they will be of little benefit to the US economy or the voters who depend upon it.
Mark Johnson is professor of operations management, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick and Mehmet Chakkol is associate professor of operations management, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Asia is suddenly starting to think about the “what-if” storm that will sweep Donald Trump and his Republican Party to win on November 5th. situations.
Despite the extremely close election in the US, Kamala Harris ‘ Democrats constantly had a statistical advantage. The GOP-controlled White House, Senate, and House of Representatives is currently influencing betting markets, which will force Asia to fight a” Trump business” circumstance in 2025.
Most Asian officials prefer Harris, as she would represent stability from Joe Biden’s administration. Trump’s industry policies alone had transform the world economic system, which is unusual.
The most immediate danger from Tokyo to Jakarta to the rest , of export-oriented Asia is Trump’s supersized taxes. The Trump plan for a 60 % tax on China will stifle growth in Asia’s largest economy and stifle supply stores everywhere.
UBS , Group thinks that tariff alone will cut China’s annual growth by more than half – chopping 2.5 percentage points off the gross domestic product ( GDP ) of the globe’s top trading nation. Due to weak retail spending, property purchase, and new home sales, China increased just 4.6 % in the third quarter year over year.
Over time, UBS , analyst Wang Tao warns of the “risk of various nations raising tariffs on imports from China as well”, kicking off a prospective hands culture of tit-for-tat trade restrictions.
It’s not the end of the world, of training. As Tianchen Xu, senior analyst at The Economist Intelligence Unit, information, China’s full-year GDP target of around 5 %  , “is presently within approach with more stimulus in the third fourth”.
Despite the magnitude of these” challenges”, Xu notes,” China’s economy is not incurable as some would suggest”. However, Trump’s return to the height of massive trade wars was quickly alter that situation.
Trump has threatened to impose taxes of between 100 % and 20 % on imported cars from Mexico, and he has threatened to increase Biden’s new punitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles even further. But how long will it be before Chinese, South Asian and Indian-made cars face comparable Trump levies?
For maneuvers did put Thailand and other Southeast Asian export-oriented economies in harm’s way. Trump 2.0 may aggravate Thailand’s” Detroit of Asia” styles on being the leading China fence for international automakers.
According to Capital Economics ‘ chief economist, Neil Shearing, Asia is anticipating a “universal tariff on all imports to the US” as well as higher Trump taxes.
Additionally, Eastern policymakers must figure out how much more stringent the restrictions on US immigration will cost. Additionally, Trump has promised fresh tax breaks, which will only help the US’s$ 35 trillion national debt grow.
” While it’s reasonable to assume that many of Trump ‘s , campaign pledges will be diluted , when faced with the reality of government, the common thread running through each of these proposals is that they will end in higher inflation”, Shearing says.
By the middle of 2026, according to Capital Economics, Trump 2.0 plans could increase prices by two percentage points over recent levels. Real GDP may be roughly 0. 75 % lower while the federal funds rate would be roughly 50 basis points higher. ” Used up”, Shearing says,” this would be bad for both US bonds , and , stocks”.
The comments effects may be felt worldwide. Shearing notes that “emerging markets with higher levels of additional debt or northern banks that are especially vulnerable to movements in the exchange rate – somewhat Turkey, Indonesia, and, given its latest inflation problems, Brazil – would probably dial up the pace of monetary easing.”
Shearing adds that” the risk of higher tariffs, if implemented, could also have a significant impact on countries that trade with the US – Mexico, Korea, Vietnam and, of course, China— especially if Trump imposes a general tariff, which would be much harder to avoid through trans-shipment”.
Trump’s policies may have an impact on emerging markets and investment. ” Tariff concerns have been a drag on EU equities”, says Emmanuel Cau, a strategist at Barclays.
Emre Peker, an analyst at Eurasia Group, notes that ,” Trump’s threat of at least 60 % tariffs on all Chinese goods and a 10 % levy on US imports from the rest of the world, as well as his potential suspension of China’s most-favored-nation trading status under World Trade Organization rules, would stoke EU-China , trade , tensions as more Chinese overcapacity flows to Europe. It could also increase the pressure on European industries, which are already struggling against US and Chinese rivals, from metals to automotive, green energy, and technology.
This, Peker adds,” could put pressure on Brussels to be more forward-leaning on its own duty or tariff posture toward Beijing. Furthermore, a , Trump , administration would likely monitor third countries for possible trans-shipment of Chinese goods and/or circumvention of US tariffs against Chinese overcapacity, threatening additional duties on the EU and others to close any backdoors into the US market”.
One of the bigger wildcards about a Trump presidency is that the US dollar will increase, putting downward pressure on China’s exchange rate. Carie Li, a global market strategist at DBS Bank, says “markets are watching if the Trump trade is heating up and pushing the yuan back to 7.15 against the dollar.”
Some people believe there is a reason to worry about Trump. According to Bilal Hafeez, CEO and head of research at Macro Hive,” The fixed income selloff accompanying rising odds of a Republican sweep could be overdone because Trumponomics is likely to be more rational than the media conveys.”
Hafeez goes on to say that” the impact of the tariffs on inflation has been greatly exaggerated. The US is a domestic-driven economy. Consumer goods imports, excluding cars, represent only about 5 % of total consumer spending, with imports from China accounting for about 40 %”.
A 60 % tariff increase on imports from China and a 10 % tariff increase on imports from other countries could increase consumer price indices by about 150 basis points, according to Hafeez.
However, crypto bets and other assets are all being negatively impacted by Trump’s re-election specter. ” Elections remain hard to call, but if you are long crypto here, you are likely taking a Trump trade”, says Bernstein analyst Gautam Chhugani.
Most troubling about Trump 2.0 is what Asia does n’t know. Imponderables abound. Trump’s first act as president in 2017, remember, was pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership ( TPP ). A President Harris, by sharp contrast, will almost certainly attend next year’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation ( APEC ) summit and as she did in Bangkok in 2022 declare the US a” Pacific nation”.
But it’s easy to count the ways Trump might shake up Asia’s 2025 and beyond. He would undoubtedly act to lower the dollar in order to boost US manufacturers ‘ competitiveness, for instance. That could worsen the negative effects China’s current headwinds and undermine confidence in the dollar as a global reserve currency.
Trump will undoubtedly pounce on the Federal Reserve during a second term. Trump will browbeat Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to lower rates in 2019. Trump also considered firing Powell, along with criticizing the Fed on social media. Thus, Powell injected unneeded liquidity into a struggling economy.
Recently, Trump argued that ,” the president should have at least a say in” Fed interest rate decisions. Meanwhile, the” Project 2025″ scheme that the Heritage Foundation right-wing think tank devised for Trump 2.0 favors meddling with the Fed’s mandate.
Then there’s the default risk.  , As a businessman in decades past, Trump was a serial bankruptcy filer. Trump made hints about US debt default while campaigning in 2016 and spooked Wall Street.
” I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal”, Trump told CNBC when asked about his fiscal plans. ” And if the economy was good, it was good. So, therefore, you ca n’t lose”.
In 2020, the Washington Post reported that Trump officials, looking to punish China, mulled canceling debt held by Beijing. It’s not difficult to comprehend how catastrophic a catastrophe would be because the US national debt is now twice the size of the Chinese GDP.
Trump is not going away, even if Harris wins on November 5. There is only a slim chance that Trump will graciously concede defeat and go back to his golf courses. Trump’s legal team is already working on the election results, which could incite a 2021-like insurrection that will be staged at locations across the country.
Washington’s political polarization could lead to unexpected risks that would cause the laws of financial gravity to resurface. The last insurrection , Trump fomented dragged Washington’s credit , rating , down with it. When , Fitch , Ratings , yanked away Washington’s AAA status last year, it cited the insurrection as a key factor.
As , Fitch , put it, the chaos on , January , 6, 2021, was a “reflection of the deterioration in governance” imperiling US finances. The US national debt is now twice the size of , China’s GDP, threatening Washington’s last remaining AAA , rating , from Moody’s Investors Service.
Here, it’s worth noting how a Trump 2.0 presidency would play into Beijing’s hands. Surely, Team Xi is n’t looking forward to Trump’s coming onslaught of tariffs. However, the ways that nations like Japan and Korea could end up as collateral damage may make China appear more appealing as a trading partner.
At the same time, the more Trump 2.0 blocks Asia’s access to US markets, the more governments in Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Putrajaya and Singapore might be incentivized to draw closer to Beijing.
Hence Asia’s worries about a “red wave” 11 days from now that makes economic paranoia great again. Policymakers in the region are already weighing how hard their economies would be hit by tariff-sealed US markets and how to respond as the odds of Trump’s return rise.
Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek
MP questions who benefits from costs
PUBLISHED : 25 Oct 2024 at 04:00
The Ministry of Transport has denied opposition criticism that its planned traffic congestion charges will favour the private sector, saying that the policy is designed to be accountable.
Deputy Transport Minister Surapong Piyachote was responding to a question raised by Suphanat Meenchainan, Bangkok-MP of the opposition People’s Party, during a House meeting yesterday.
Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit has proposed a traffic congestion fee for motorists entering busy roads in Bangkok. The charges may range from 40 to 50 baht per vehicle for accessing congested roads served by electric train lines.
The fee will go towards a 200-billion-baht fund to buy back concessions from private companies that invest in electric train lines. The fund will finance a 20-baht flat-rate fare across all electric train lines after the buy-back. The 20-baht fare has already been launched on the Purple and Red lines operated by the State Railway of Thailand.
Mr Suphanat said the government had it all wrong. He said it should focus on solving problems with public buses, which are the primary mode of transportation, rather than imposing charges that drive more people to use electric trains to the benefit of private concessionaires.
The MP questioned the Ministry of Transport’s ability to reform the entire mass transit system within six months as promised. He said the chronic problem with extending bus transport coverage throughout the city has forced many commuters to take taxis instead.
“Why is it that the Ministry of Transport, directed by the ruling Pheu Thai Party, appears to be trying to generate money for the private sector, like electric train and expressway companies?” he asked.
“Are you at all confident that that you will succeed in tackling the mass transit problem?”
Responding to Mr Suphanat’s queries, Mr Surapong said that the ministry is working on measures to make the congestion fee collection method accountable. He added that the system will not benefit any business or investor.
According to the ministry’s report, 390,000 vehicles ply Bangkok roads daily, exacerbating air pollution by pushing up the PM2.5 fine dust particle levels.
The report showed that managing road transportation helps with pollution mitigation, and Mr Surapong said a traffic policy plan is created around this.
After a 7-nanometer artificial intelligence ( AI ) chip it produced was discovered in a product of the heavily-sanctioned Huawei Technologies, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSMC), the world’s largest contract chip manufacturer, was urged to improve its end-user checks.  ,  ,
Republican senator John Moolenaar, who is also the chairman of the House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), called using TSMC-manufactured chips in Huawei’s AI startups a” catastrophic loss of export control plan.”
In a press release on Wednesday, Moolenaar stated that” AI startups, like the one these cards fueled, are at the forefront of our technology contest with the CCP, and I fear the harm done these will have major implications for our national safety.”  ,
He claimed that Congress needs to receive immediate responses regarding the scope and size of this disaster from both the Bureau of Industry and Security ( BIS ) of the US Commerce Department ( BIS ) and TSMC. He demanded that the US federal take immediate action to prevent this from occurring again.
On October 9, TechInsights, a Canada-based data platform for the semiconductor industry, published a document with the subject” Huawei Ascend 910B AI Trainer – Die Analysis”.
TechInsights reported that it purchased the Huawei Atlas 300T A2 AI education cards, which it believes has the Ascend 910B computer. The media described the Ascend 910B, a second-generation device launched in 2022 following the debut of the original Ascend 910 in 2019, as a 7nm chip produced by the Shanghai-based Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp ( SMIC ).
According to a Reuters report on Wednesday, TechInsights had informed TSMC of the device evaluation prior to publishing its findings, citing an unnamed Chinese trade and economic established.  ,  ,
After discovering that its cards had been discovered in a Huawei goods, the official said TSMC launched an investigation and suspended its supplies to a client in the country in mid-October. The official described the incident as an “important notice event” within TSMC, refusing to publish the lawyer’s title.
According to the official, October 11 is the earliest the affair may be traced back to. The US Commerce Department and the Japanese government were finally informed that the delivery of the chip might indicate a potential infraction of US export restrictions against Huawei.  ,
The US Commerce Department opened an exploration into whether TSMC broke US trade regulations to produce chips for Huawei, according to The Info on October 18.  ,
The incidents ‘ timelines also matched what a Chinese technology columnist said on October 9 in an article titled” Hinduwei will achieve self-sufficiency after TSMC and Huawei split up.”
The journalist claimed that TSMC and Huawei have decided to break up because they will no longer produce chips for the latter, who will then have to produce the country’s 5G and Traverse chips internally.  ,
Past media reports revealed that Huawei and SMIC attempted to create Ascend 910B cards by themselves earlier this year, but they failed to produce acceptable results.
The Information revealed on June 25 that Huawei and SMIC encountered challenges in the production of the Ascend 910B as a result of an inadequate supply of chip-making equipment pieces. On June 27, The Chosun Daily in South Korea reported that the production of Ascend 910B is only about 20 %.  ,
Whether Huawei has now given up on this generation is a mystery. However, it appears that Huawei you rely solely on SMIC’s N 2 process to produce 7nm cards, including the upcoming Ascend 910C chips.
The South China Morning Post reported on September 30 that Huawei gave examples of the Ascend 910C to big Chinese client companies for equipment testing and design. It planned to immediately make 70, 000 products of this device, which aims to engage with Nvidia’s H100.
On the basis of national security, the US Commerce Department placed Huawei and its 70 members on its’Entity Record’ in May 2019. Due to diplomatic pressure from the US, the Dutch government in the same year imposed a ban on the exports of ASML’s extreme ultraviolet ( EUV) lithography machines to China.
On September 15, 2020, TSMC stopped producing Kirin cards, resulting in a timer for HiSilicon’s device products.
Reports in the media over the past few years claimed Huawei used SMIC’s N 2 process to create 7nm Kirin 9000S bits despite the company’s limited supply of high-end chips for its flagship phones.  ,
TechInsights even confirmed that SMIC made the Kirin 9000S chips used in Huawei’s Mate 60 phones next month.
Huawei’s Ascend 910 chips and Ascend 910B were previously reported in Chinese media, despite Huawei’s significant expansion of site production.  ,
Huawei announced on July 6 that it would increase the number of AI handling cards in each of its seven Chinese cities from 4 000 to 16 000.
At that time, some Taiwanese observers said TSMC was allowed to produce Ascend 910 for Huawei as the device used Huawei’s self-developed Da Vinci structures. However, these papers were taken down from China’s Internet.  ,
Other observers thought that all the Ascend 910B bits, with an expected source of 500, 000 products in 2024, were all made by SMIC. They may have to reevaluate their choices now that they are aware that Huawei’s goods contain TSMC-manufactured Ascend 910B cards.
On Wednesday, Huawei said it has not produced any bits via TSMC since 2020. Additionally, TSMC claimed to have not supplied Huawei since September 2020. The Chinese chipmaker claimed to not be aware that it was being investigated at this time about itself.  ,
The US Commerce Department’s director declined to comment on the status of any inquiries.  ,
Nazak Nikakhtar, an assistant secretary for industry and analysis at the US Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration ( ITA ) from 2018 to 2021, told Asia Times in an interview in June that he was aware that sanctioned entities could easily circumvent US sanctions by setting up layers of shell companies or holding only minority stakes in companies.
No matter whether the US is looking into TSMC or not, it will have to explain why it did n’t raise any red flags when a client from the mainland placed an order to make the Ascend 910B, which is comparable to the Ascend 910 on which i had already finished the design process.
taped out “in business language ) before 2019. TSMC had likewise taped-out and mass-produced another Huawei AI cards such as Ascend 310 and 990.
Read: Huawei bypasses US device limits with TSMC hole
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