Miscellaneous News

On Mar 14, Yang Jiechi met with Jake Sullivan in Rome. Basically both sides agreed to keep trying to "close the distance". In other words, neither country changed its positions.

In the news release, China did not reveal what the US was demanding and what the US would return in favor. Given that Sullivan was threatening China on possible sanctions even the day before the talk, he likely went with both hands empty. He probably came back with empty hands, too.

A Chinese observer commented that this meeting in Rome is likely one that had been planned for a while. Neither China nor the US urgently needs anything from the other side. Yang and Sullivan perhaps had low to no expectation before the meeting.

"They had "frank, thorough and constructive" conversations on the Sino-US relationship and some interested international issues.

Yang warned his counter part not to play the Taiwan card. He restated that the principle of "One China" is the foundation of the Sino-US diplomatic relationship. Yang expressed China's disappointment and frustration with the US for not living up to its promises made by Biden."

当地时间3月14日，中共中央政治局委员、中央外事工作委员会办公室主任杨洁篪同美国总统国家安全事务助理沙利文在意大利罗马举行会晤。双方就中美关系以及共同关心的国际与地区问题进行了坦诚、深入和建设性沟通，同意共同落实好两国元首共识，增进了解，管控分歧，扩大共识，加强合作，为推动中美关系重回健康稳定发展的正确轨道积累条件。

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杨洁篪强调，台湾问题事关中国的主权和领土完整。美方在中美三个联合公报中都明确承认只有一个中国，一中原则是中美建立外交关系的前提，也是中美关系的政治基础。本届美国政府在台湾问题上作出坚持一个中国政策、不支持“台独”的承诺，但行动与表态明显不符。中方对近期美在涉台问题上一系列错误言行表示严重关切和坚决反对。任何纵容支持“台独”分裂势力，企图打“台湾牌”搞“以台制华”的图谋都不可能得逞。中方要求美方认清台湾问题的高度敏感性，恪守一个中国原则、中美三个联合公报规定和美方所作承诺，不要在十分危险的道路上越走越远。

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Both sides exchanged opinions on Ukraine, Nuclear of NK and Iran, Afghanistan.

双方还就乌克兰、朝核、伊朗核、阿富汗等国际地区问题交换意见。

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Sullivan took the purple hair lady for interpretation again. It appears that she was having a different hair color this time. Is it withered yellow?

Overbom said:

Sounds like the Japan oil embargo treatment... Almost certainly a WW3 if they try to do a complete trade embargo + blockade

"BREAKING: US Deputy Treasury Secretary says further options Washington has against Russia include a full trade embargo and blocking Russian access to international waterways"

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1503464733831143426

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bullshit!

trade embargo and waterways blocking involve extensive use of forces. the fact is they dare not to set up a no fly zone, they are even scared to send weapons into the war zone. I guess they'll use their tongues to enforce the embargo.

Original source for the files are in the replies

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Chinese and Saudi firms create joint venture to make military drones in the kingdom​

Saudi and Chinese industry have joined forces to design and build military drones in the kingdom.
Advanced Communications and Electronics Systems Co. signed an agreement with China Electronics Technology Group Corp., with the two companies announcing their tie-up during the , which took place March 6-9.


What the Russians should have done years ago.

At first, I thought that WSJ story about Saudi Arabia inviting Xi could have possibly been fake news, made to embarrass both sides if there weren't such plans. But seeing as how China and Saudi officials met on March 13-14th, the same time as Yang-Sullivan meeting maybe the Xi visit Saudi Arabia story is true after all. It also makes sense since MBS didn't attend Olympics ceremony at last second, most likely due to US pressure. A pissed-off MBS probably wanted to make up for that incident.

Understandable that Saudis are not too happy at the moment. The global economy is moving toward de-carbonatization, and the Saudi's efforts to diversify their economy is still struggling. If the West can simply take away your central bank reserve and sovereign wealth fund based on some media-fueled moral outrage, then Saudis have zero future. Pumping oil for the West for a hundred years only to have all their savings confiscated once they are no longer useful.

American assaults on Chinese stocks are damage control for their sanctions. They want to discredit the Chinese capital market. But Saudi can work with China on real projects while China works on its financial market.

I am disappointed. Australian Universities don't have much of value.

LesAdieux said:

trade embargo and waterways blocking involve extensive use of forces. the fact is they dare not to set up a no fly zone, they are even scared to send weapons into the war zone. I guess they'll use their tongues to enforce the embargo.

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The US thinks they can act like British pirates in the Age of Sail. I saw similar "ideas" floated several years ago. They already arrest Iranian ships headed to Venezuela as it is. But if they did that to Russian ships, perhaps the Russian attack submarine fleet would start sinking US ships. The really expensive ones.

OppositeDay said:

Understandable that Saudis are not too happy at the moment. The global economy is moving toward de-carbonatization, and the Saudi's efforts to diversify their economy is still struggling. If the West can simply take away your central bank reserve and sovereign wealth fund based on some media-fueled moral outrage, then Saudis have zero future. Pumping oil for the West for a hundred years only to have all their savings confiscated once they are no longer useful.

American assaults on Chinese stocks are damage control for their sanctions. They want to discredit the Chinese capital market. But Saudi can work with China on real projects while China works on its financial market.

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There's also the not so well thought out Biden policy of framing his presidency as democracies vs so called authoritarians.

In his rush to appease the domestic constituency and sound tough against China and Russia, he forgot that the Gulf monarchies would be very uncomfortable with this new found 'pro democracy' crusade

Chinese industrial design software companies rush to help DJI amid US ban

By GT staff reporters Published: Mar 14, 2022 08:30 PM

DJI Photo:VCG
US software firm Figma has reportedly started to sever ties with Chinese drone unicorn DJI in compliance with US sanctions, but multiple Chinese software companies have swiftly responded, vowing to give DJI a helping hand to minimize the impact of the US' access ban.

Still, contentions remain over whether Figma's Chinese lookalikes would be powerful enough to meet DJI's needs.

In an email sent to DJI, Figma said that it has learned that DJI is named in US-issued sanctioning list, and it can no longer provide the company access to its software in compliance with the US laws, the China Securities Journal reported on Sunday.

Figma has moved to freeze DJI's accounts, read the email, adding that "should DJI eventually be removed from the sanctioned parities list, your access may be restored."

On Saturday, JsDesign said on its Weibo account that it had verified the access prohibition that has affected some domestic internet firms and designers, affecting the security of their design assets.

DJI didn't comment on the reports, when contacted by the Global Times.

Figma did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As DJI seems to find itself, like another Shenzhen-based tech giant Huawei, in the crosshairs of the US government's unilateral moves, many domestic alternatives to Figma's offerings have reached out to DJI.

Shenzhen-listed software firm Wondershare Technology is one of those extending a helping hand.

A domestically developed collaborative interface design tool Pixso launched a function to support the upload of Figma files on Saturday. The move is aimed at providing assistance for the creators and enterprises banned by Figma and helping protect their design assets, the company said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Monday.

Compared with foreign software, the software developed by the Chinese team can respond to the needs of local enterprises more quickly with Chinese interface and local servers, making web page designs faster and more secure, the statement said.

In addition to interface design software, Wondershare is making every effort to produce software that can replace the foreign products and create a new ecosystem of domestic software amid China's efforts to promote innovation in information technology, the company noted in the statement.

Shares of Wondershare on the tech-heavy ChiNext market rallied 15.2 percent on Monday, arguably a silver lining in a fall in the A-share market across the board. The ChiNext index shed 3.56 percent while the flagship Shanghai index lost 2.61 percent.

The domestic market for collaborative interface design tools remains in its infancy, but the overall market and users are expanding. Producers of domestic software, including Pixso, have significantly increased the speed of their iterations in the past six months after getting more funding from the capital market, Huang Yong, founder of Pixso, told the Global Times on Monday.

Faced with the move of Figma to cut off companies blacklisted by the US, domestic brands have responded swiftly. In the future, the global market for online design software will see fiercer competition among multiple brands, Huang said.

Wondershare is not alone. Domestic design tool MasterGo, under online product design collaboration platform Lanhu, has officially packed the functionality of importing Figma documents, a staffer at the company confirmed to the Global Times on Monday.

Compared with Figma's English-language system, MasterGo is an interface design tool meant for Chinese designers, with Chinese system language that can help domestic designers get started quickly, according to the company.

JsDesign, for its part, also offered to help individuals and businesses hit by the US measure with the transfer and backup of Figma files.

DJI is among many companies that use Figma software, which is equivalent to a painting brush for corporate design.

The San Francisco-based software design platform that enables customers to collaborate on software "raised fresh funding at a valuation of $10 billion," according to a report by Bloomberg in June 2021.

There would be some inconvenience to local businesses in case of banned access to Figma, but overall impact could be managed, a Beijing-based UI designer familiar with the tool told the Global Times on Monday.

"The [Figma] software is replaceable. The function could be replaced by some basic drawing and design tools," he said.

An unidentified designer who previously worked for a famed global internet firm, cited by the National Business Daily on Monday, said that when slapped with a Figma ban, the only solution for designers and businesses would be a shift toward other design tools, with domestic software acting as a Plan B option.

Nonetheless, the functionalities of domestic software are not as broad-based as those of Figma, meaning that a mix of software tools would be necessary to function in Figma's absence, resulting in rising costs and compromised efficiency, according to the designer, adding that homegrown design software lags behind Figma in ecosystem terms.