Day 1 of the Trump-Xi summit is over. Here are my key takeaways from the readouts, interviews, and the banquet.

(1) New Chinese Formulation: Most interesting takeaway for me is that China is out with a new frame for the relationship: “I have agreed with President Trump on a…

— Rush Doshi (@RushDoshi) May 14, 2026

oh no said:

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Instead of making Taiwan invincible, how about we make ourselves not so dependent on Taiwan for chips?

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Which was why the CHIPS Act was passed. The question now is what has been done with that? There were a lot of chip fab plants announced and some started in Texas (Dallas and Austin), but have heard little since other than delay announcements and not being able to find talent to staff them when they get built.

YouBet said:

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oh no said:

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Instead of making Taiwan invincible, how about we make ourselves not so dependent on Taiwan for chips?

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Which was why the CHIPS Act was passed. The question now is what has been done with that? There were a lot of chip fab plants announced and some started in Texas (Dallas and Austin), but have heard little since other than delay announcements and not being able to find talent to staff them when they get built.

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Taiwan still retains advanced chip dev, and the engineering talent still resides on island.


Hell, TSMC had to bring TWN HVAC guys in to set up their AZ fab because no one in the US had the expertise

LMCane said:

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one way to avoid a war with china

would be for the rest of the world to make Taiwan so invincible to attack that it would destroy the Commies to even try.

maybe the rest of the world should try thinking about a real strategy?

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Taiwan is already pretty heavily defended. And they have Japan as a neighbor who is formidable and will help defend them.

But, as already stated, if/when we replicate their chip abilities here in the US they are no longer relevant. They are then just a rogue outpost of Chinese capitalist dissidents who we clearly align with much more than the mainland Chinese communists, but do we / should we go to war over that?

K2-HMFIC said:

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YouBet said:

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oh no said:

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Instead of making Taiwan invincible, how about we make ourselves not so dependent on Taiwan for chips?

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Which was why the CHIPS Act was passed. The question now is what has been done with that? There were a lot of chip fab plants announced and some started in Texas (Dallas and Austin), but have heard little since other than delay announcements and not being able to find talent to staff them when they get built.

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Taiwan still retains advanced chip dev, and the engineering talent still resides on island.


Hell, TSMC had to bring TWN HVAC guys in to set up their AZ fab because no one in the US had the expertise

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Right. I just have no context of any advancements we've made on our own since the CHIPS Act. What little I've heard is not positive - like your example here.

YouBet said:

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K2-HMFIC said:

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YouBet said:

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oh no said:

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Instead of making Taiwan invincible, how about we make ourselves not so dependent on Taiwan for chips?

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Which was why the CHIPS Act was passed. The question now is what has been done with that? There were a lot of chip fab plants announced and some started in Texas (Dallas and Austin), but have heard little since other than delay announcements and not being able to find talent to staff them when they get built.

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Taiwan still retains advanced chip dev, and the engineering talent still resides on island.


Hell, TSMC had to bring TWN HVAC guys in to set up their AZ fab because no one in the US had the expertise

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Right. I just have no context of any advancements we've made on our own since the CHIPS Act. What little I've heard is not positive - like your example here.

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We're making headway, but it is slow going.

I spoke to some execs at Intel and they were asking for another 60 billion

That's interesting. One of the few cases where expanded 'H1B visa' (or some such) might make sense is for such folks, imho.

how about we immigrate the employees at the largest Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company plants and settle them in Grimes County Texas near Gibbons Creek reservoir where Elon Musk wants to build a huge semiconductor chip plant?

As an apology to the world for COVID, they should sign an international treaty abandoning all claims to Taiwan in perpetuity.

That is how you handle Taiwan and China.

Honestly, I kinda hope that we get chinese EVs out of this. They are objectively better than any EV in the US market right now. I get why they are cheaper but they are also a vastly superior product for the target market each is in.

flown-the-coop said:

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As an apology to the world for COVID, they should sign an international treaty abandoning all claims to Taiwan in perpetuity.

That is how you handle Taiwan and China.

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I don't think either side wants to provoke any sort of war. Last thing we'd want to do is some brazen off the cuff encouragement of a minor incursion to provoke an adversary. We know how that goes. It's a waiting game and both sides seem complacent enough with a prolonged stalemate. China plays the long game well and has likely already measured the cost of waiting vs the costs of fighting. We need time to decouple our dependencies.

Someday, Taiwan will return to being part of China. It will likely be quite a few years, but it will happen.

eater of the list said:

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Honestly, I kinda hope that we get chinese EVs out of this. They are objectively better than any EV in the US market right now. I get why they are cheaper but they are also a vastly superior product for the target market each is in.

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Will they come with those little gold "Made in CHINA" stickers like the lead flavored toys of my youth?

No, we do not need Chinese spy vehicles roaming our streets. Hard hard hard pass.

Wait, what?

🚨 JUST IN: In a MASSIVE IRAN BACKFIRE, China is looking to start surging oil imports from *ALASKA*...

Because — you guessed it — it's closer and easier than the Strait of Hormuz.

The ChiComs are hedging on Iran.

Trump wheeling and dealing overseas, playing chess.

47 IS A… pic.twitter.com/PN9YZkpbR0

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 14, 2026

fc2112 said:

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Someday, Taiwan will return to being part of China. It will likely be quite a few years, but it will happen.

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Why? That's not really the history of the place.

In fact one could equally argue that the Republic of China government retakes the mainland.

Rereading your comment, I should clarify. There is no reason Taiwan should become part of the People's Republic of China (PRC). If reunification should occur, it should be and likely would be the ROC taking back control of the mainland.

fc2112 said:

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Someday, Taiwan will return to being part of China. It will likely be quite a few years, but it will happen.

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I agree. I think it's inevitable and going to war with China over it would be pretty dumb, if we have mitigated the chip issue by then. If we haven't, then I think you have to defend them.

This was hinted to last week in another thread and an ensuing discussion on whether this was feasible. Looks like the one who said it was is right.

Lots of economic wins it seems. Several Chinese companies approved to buy NVIDIA chips, Boeing may receive orders for up to 500 planes, and I am sure more to come.

flown-the-coop said:

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fc2112 said:

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Someday, Taiwan will return to being part of China. It will likely be quite a few years, but it will happen.

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Why? That's not really the history of the place.

In fact one could equally argue that the Republic of China government retakes the mainland.

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Taiwan would have to get to Imperial Japanese levels of violent and capability for that to remotely be true.

And this isn't the China from the 1920s and 1930s.

YouBet said:

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flown-the-coop said:

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fc2112 said:

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Someday, Taiwan will return to being part of China. It will likely be quite a few years, but it will happen.

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Why? That's not really the history of the place.

In fact one could equally argue that the Republic of China government retakes the mainland.

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Taiwan would have to get to Imperial Japanese levels of violent and capability for that to remotely be true.

And this isn't the China from the 1920s and 1930s.

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Or the PRC collapses onto itself as is the destiny of all communist regimes.

China has a long long history of internal political turmoil. It would seem naive to give the last 75 years more weight than the previous 4000.

flown-the-coop said:

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YouBet said:

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flown-the-coop said:

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fc2112 said:

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Someday, Taiwan will return to being part of China. It will likely be quite a few years, but it will happen.

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Why? That's not really the history of the place.

In fact one could equally argue that the Republic of China government retakes the mainland.

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Taiwan would have to get to Imperial Japanese levels of violent and capability for that to remotely be true.

And this isn't the China from the 1920s and 1930s.

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Or the PRC collapses onto itself as is the destiny of all communist regimes.

China has a long long history of internal political turmoil. It would seem naive to give the last 75 years more weight than the previous 4000.

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Well, that could certainly happen and would be the only way for it change. It's certainly happened throughout their history.

I read your statement at face value that Taiwan could militarily retake mainland China which is a pipe dream.

Yea, I don't think we see that. And I very much hope we don't see true kinetic action between the two. Even if we did not intervene I think we would likely cutoff all dealings with China and work to excuse them stage left from the global society.

To be clear, Taiwan itself militarily has no ability to withstand the current PRC forces.

The PRC lacks the ability to force the issue via military strength over Kinmen much less Taiwan. Crossing the straight is a non starter. For the Chinese regime Taiwan serves the purpose of keeping the populace riled up and distracted with "external" problems so they don't rise up and reject those currently in power for internal issues.

Give Taiwan Iran's enriched uranium. Win, win.

General Tso, a fantastic person… not many people will say that. People say he’s a little spicy, but a great leader. A strong man. https://t.co/i683NumOVQ

— Maine (@TheMaineWonk) May 14, 2026

Searcy, AR has like 4 or 5 Chinese food places. Regardless of why I had to go to Seaecy, there doesn't seem to be much reason a a mini Chinatown in such a place. There is a college there, but it's for bible thumping and I don't think they are getting drunk take out all the time, but who knows.

Someone else mentioned, Indian food places are catching up fast. Meanwhile, Mexican seems to be on the decline.

Things seem to be going well!

And this changes EVERYTHING about the trade war.

🚨 TRUMP JUST WALKED OUT OF BEIJING WITH 5 WINS IN 48 HOURS. THIS ISN'T DIPLOMACY. THIS IS A PRESSURE-CLOSE SIGNAL.

Xi agreed to give Trump "anything he needs" on Iran. Plus soybeans. Plus US oil. Plus LNG. Plus 200 Boeing jets —… pic.twitter.com/OVLnLNahM6

— 🇨🇳 Liu Feng 刘锋 (@LiuInTheShadows) May 14, 2026

Along with Taiwan's chip manufacturing, let's not forget about their machine tech.

We got everything we wanted.
We gave up nothing.
Brilliant!

Secolobo said:

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Along with Taiwan's chip manufacturing, let's not forget about their machine tech.

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Forget Venezuela, let's make Taiwan the 51st state.

it is a precarious position for our domestic communist party, the dems, to have to find fault for their pravda media arm to shout from the rooftops about how our fascist dictator in USA negotiated with their hero and communist dictator in the CCP.

oh no said:

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it is a precarious position for our domestic communist party, the dems, to have to find fault for their pravda media arm to shout from the rooftops about how our fascist dictator in USA negotiated with their hero and communist dictator in the CCP.

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More likely they'll offer mild public criticism and do high-fives behind closed doors.

smstork1007 said:

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rab79 said:

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SigAg6 said:

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Do Trump likey egg roll

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Chinese eggroll is ass, Vietnamese eggroll spring roll is where it is.

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FIFY

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Spring roll is good, but eggroll is better.
So no you didn't fifm.

Egg roll wrapper filled with egg, meat, cheese for breakfast, egg roll wrapper filled with buffalo shredded chicken or phill cheese steak.

Chinese fill theirs full of cheep junk. Same ***** Wrap crap in shiny foil.

Don't fill it with ***** Fill it with American.

One of the greatest results of this trip is Trump got Democrats to realize that China is a threat.

BQ78 said:

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One of the greatest results of this trip is Trump got Democrats to realize that China is a threat.

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No, democrats only think Trump is a threat.