supercat
Major
I think one of the biggest problems for the West currently is that they refuse to be humble, cooperate with, and learn from China.The Europeans are getting jealous about China's lead in battery technology. DW says that China is at least 3-4 years ahead of Europe.
Sodium batteries was only a concept a couple of years ago, except in China. But now its seeing early commercialization in Chinese EVs. The Europeans are debating whether its even worth catching up. A startup founder says yes. But a more established Li-ion battery maker in says no, because Li-ion is still superior in performance. Na-ion still has energy density of about 50% of Li-ion. But its far cheaper. NaCO3 ore is at $290/ton, while LiCO3 ore is at $13,657/ton. DW says that Li-ion battery prices are still more lucrative than Na-ion batteries, so it might be better to just stick to investing in Li-ion. They doubt that Na-ion would eventually replace Li-ion.
Europeans are still debating about the future of battery technology, while the Chinese are rolling out Na-ion batteries for the commercial market. At this rate, they are not gonna catch up. If China could one day develop Na-ion batteries that can rival the energy density of Li-ion batteries, than that is gonna be a big game changer for the battery industry.
One the other hand, the Global South doesn't have such hubris and they are readily reaping the benefits of working with China.
China’s technical expertise touted as new vehicle for progress on embattled, global belt and road
- China seen shifting away from infrastructure-dominated exchanges that long dominated the decade-old Belt and Road Initiative and sparked criticism
- Technology transfers have always been part of China’s belt and road plan, but analysts say Beijing is increasingly prioritising those types of exchanges to boost ties
There is zero evidence that TikTok poses any national security threat to the US.
TIKTOK THREAT IS PURELY HYPOTHETICAL, U.S. INTELLIGENCE ADMITS
“We have nothing to add,” the FBI said, when asked for evidence of TikTok’s actual threat.
I think ByteDance has the financial leverage to withstand a US ban of TikTok. In 2023, TikTok had a revenue of $16 billion in the US, while ByteDance had a revenue of $120 billion, becoming one of the world's largest social media. Most of ByteDance's business came from China.
TikTok’s US revenues hit $16bn as Washington threatens ban
Parent company ByteDance on track to become world’s biggest social media group with $120bn in global sales
Most of the group’s business comes from China, where ByteDance runs TikTok sister app Douyin and a growing in-app ecommerce business.
Another day, another gaslighting article from the New York Times: complaining that American investors' money is stuck in TikTok, while completely fails to mention that it's US government's fault entirely.