EU blacklists 21 Russian airlines for breaching international safety standards

Reference News Network reported that the German weekly Der Spiegel reported on the 11th that the European Commission added 21 Russian airlines to the EU flight safety blacklist, banning them from flying in EU airspace or subject to operational restrictions, because these companies do not meet international safety standards.

According to the list of the European Commission, there are Aeroflot, Russian national airline (Rossiya), Siberia Airlines (S7), Utair and so on. The Russian Air Transport Agency said it would take measures to respond.

The EU commissioner for transport, Adina Valean, said the blacklisting of the companies was not a response to further sanctions against Russia due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but a response to a decision by Russian regulators; the agency Allowing Russian airlines to operate hundreds of foreign aircraft without valid airworthiness certificates “violates international aviation safety standards”.

The Observer.com quoted Volian as saying that the restricted Russian airline has “serious safety problems” because Russia forcibly re-registered foreign-owned aircraft and deliberately allowed them to fly without a valid airworthiness certificate.

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The decisive battle in the east of Ukraine is imminent, and German defense manufacturers propose to donate Leopard-1 chariots to Ukraine

As the Russian army retreated to the eastern and southern Ukrainian fronts for preparation, most outsiders believed that the decisive battle of the Ukrainian-Russian war would be in the Donbass region, and Ukraine needed more armored vehicles to improve the chance of victory. German defense manufacturer Rheinmetall said that as long as Germany The government has agreed to deliver the first stockpiled Leopard 1s to Ukraine within six weeks.

The Leopard 1 is the main tank launched by Porsche in 1961 and entered service in 1965. It is the first main tank launched by West Germany after the end of World War II. The vehicle weighs 42.5 tons and has a length of 8.17 meters. , 3.37 meters wide, MTU 10-cylinder 37.4-liter multi-fuel engine with a maximum output of 830 horsepower.

The main armament is a British Royal Arsenal L7A3 105mm rifled gun, two 7.62mm MG3 general-purpose machine guns and smoke grenade launchers, with a top speed of 65 kilometers per hour and a plain combat range of up to 600 kilometers.

Until the 1980s, there were five improved versions of the Leopard 1, and the last A4 and A5 are still in service in Brazil, Denmark, Chile, Greece, Ecuador and other countries.

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian war, Germany has announced a number of rearmament plans, including a special military expenditure of 100 billion euros next year, that is, the annual military budget will be increased to 2% of GDP and other goals, and support including Panzerfaust 3 (Panzerfaust 3) anti-armor rockets, and weapons such as the BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle delivered to the former East Germany through the Czech Republic.

However, the German economy has long relied on Russian oil and natural gas imports. Prime Minister Schoots has always had reservations about providing more heavy weapons to Ukraine, or asked for a third country to transfer it to slow down the deterioration of relations with Moscow. Public opinion and international criticism have been widely criticized. .

Therefore, Armin Papperger, CEO of Rheinmetall, a major German defense company, said in an interview with the German media Handelsblatt recently that as long as the German government agrees, the company can transfer the stock Leopard 1 to Ukraine. , the first batch of about 50 can be delivered in as little as six weeks.

Although the Leopard 1 has been in service for a long time, the A4 and A5 versions of the 1970s and 1980s can still compete with the Russian T-72 series of chariots. Although the Ukrainian army needs additional conversion training before receiving it, Papuyage Speaking to the Business Daily, he believes that the Ukrainian army should be able to complete the training in a short period of time. Marcus Faber, head of defense policy of the German Free Democratic Party, also believes that in the urgency of the war, the Ukrainian army may change training faster than usual. Expect to be shorter.

It is not clear which government will come forward if the German government agrees to the handover. Based on Germany’s policy of reluctance to hand over weapons directly, foreign media believe that Rheinmetall may cooperate with the Italian government to remove the nearly 1,000 vehicles from the country’s inventory of Leopards. Among them, select vehicles in good condition and send them to Ukraine, just like the recent cooperation with the Czech Republic to hand over the BMP-1.

Since Moscow’s recent strategic goal has shifted to consolidating the Donbas and Uranian coastlines, if the Ukrainian army wants to completely expel the Russian army, it will need more heavy weapons such as armored vehicles, fighter jets, anti-ship missiles and long-range anti-aircraft missiles. If Germany can hand over the Leopard 1 tank, it will be of great help to the Ukrainian army in the future decisive battle in Donbass.

Elon Musk assists Ukraine’s weapon, Starlink has a sudden interruption of communication in some areas

According to a number of foreign media reports, Starlink, a low-orbit satellite communication system operated by SpaceX, suddenly reported a communication interruption in some areas on the 9th Taipei time, and some users claimed to be affected.

The report pointed out that Starlink, which uses low-orbit satellites for communication links, has now expanded its service to many countries outside the United States. A few days ago, in response to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the founder Elon Musk also specially opened the service in the Ukrainian region and shipped Starlink’s ground receivers to Ukraine to solve the local communication interruption caused by the war.

However, it is understood that on the 9th Taipei time, several Starlink users left a message on the Reddit website pointing out that Starlink’s service was suddenly interrupted and stopped. According to the users themselves, the range includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium and Portugal and other places where Starlink communication services have been interrupted. However, fortunately, the related service interruptions were short-lived, and most areas returned to normal in less than half an hour.

The report pointed out that according to spacexstats statistics, SpaceX currently has 2,107 Starlink satellites operating in space, and another 196 deorbited, which can provide services covering most areas of the world. The sudden incident of the communication interruption occurred in the early morning of US Eastern Time, when most of the affected users were probably sleeping, and the interruption time was not long, so the overall impact should be small.

Tip of the iceberg? Taiwan investigates about 100 Chinese companies suspected of illegally poaching chip talent

Taiwan’s spy catchers have launched an investigation into about 100 Chinese companies suspected of illegally poaching semiconductor engineers and other tech talent, Reuters reported, citing a senior official at the Taiwan Justice Ministry’s Bureau of Investigation.

Since the beginning of last year, seven companies have been indicted, 27 companies have been raided, or their bosses have been arraigned by the Bureau of Investigation, the official said.

Home to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), Taiwan has 92% of the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing capabilities and is fully equipped with the chip expertise China needs.

A global shortage of chips, and the Chinese government’s professed goal of achieving self-sufficiency in advanced chips, which President Xi Jinping has pushed more forcefully after a trade war with the former Trump administration, have only exacerbated the Competition for engineering talent.

Taiwan, on the other hand, set up a special task force in December 2020 within the Bureau of Investigation of the Ministry of Justice (the main spy-catch organization) to combat illegal poaching.

The official said cases of raids or inquiries by the Bureau of Investigation were “the tip of the iceberg.” He requested anonymity so as not to hinder the investigation.

Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigation said the official’s remarks represented the bureau’s views.

Growing military pressure from China, which claims Taiwan as its territory, will only strengthen Taiwan’s determination to defend its chip supremacy — an asset that is also strategically important to the United States, which outsources much of its chip manufacturing to Taiwan.

Last month, Taiwan’s Bureau of Investigation launched its largest operation to date — a raid on eight companies aimed at cracking down on what it said was “the Chinese Communist Party’s illegal talent-poaching and secret-stealing activities.”

China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to Reuters.

Buying ships from Chinese state-owned enterprises, Evergreen: It is purely a private commercial activity

The US think tank pointed out that Evergreen’s purchase of ships from Chinese state-owned enterprises may indirectly reduce the cost of upgrading the navy on the other side. Evergreen responded that the purchase of new ships is purely a private commercial activity, and major information has been released on the stock exchange in accordance with regulations, and the competent authorities and investors have been informed.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reported that Evergreen purchased 44 ships from China in 2018. Except for 2 ships, the rest were ordered from shipyards that produce Chinese warships. Three aircraft carriers of China Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC).

Evergreen responded in writing today that the procurement of its own ships was conducted through international public bidding. In addition to China, new ships were also ordered in Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. The cumulative number of container ships built by Korean shipyards is 58, with a transport capacity of more than 730,000 TEU, more than the 35 built by Chinese manufacturers with a transport capacity of about 240,000 TEU.

Evergreen emphasizes that the purchase of new ships is purely a private commercial act. The Chinese manufacturers that build some of Evergreen’s ships belong to the merchant shipping department of China Shipbuilding Corporation, and have nothing to do with the military industry department; and many shipyards in many countries follow this practice, with different commercial and military use. department.

Evergreen said that Evergreen Shipping is a listed company, and that the procurement of assets such as new ships will release major information on the stock exchange in accordance with regulations, and inform the competent authorities and investors.

US lawmakers propose to exclude China from international financial system if it threatens Taiwan’s security

Remembering the lessons of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US Congressman Lucas proposed the “China Exclusion Act” on the 6th. Once China poses any threat to Taiwan’s security or social and economic systems, the bill will exclude China from the international financial system.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said at a House Financial Services Committee hearing that the U.S. is prepared to impose sanctions on China if China, as some fear, acts of aggression against Taiwan, just as the U.S. and its allies sanctioned Russia for its invasion of Ukraine .

US Congressman Frank Lucas introduced the “Ostracize China Act” on the 6th. Lucas said in a statement that the greatest generational challenge facing the United States comes from China’s economic, political and national security threats. To prevent China from following the example of Russia’s aggression, Congress should take the necessary steps to subject the People’s Republic of China to significant financial and economic sanctions if Beijing threatens the security, social, or economic system of Taiwan’s people.

He pointed out that coercion and growing efforts to reshape the Indo-Pacific region by China’s use of economic influence and military power must not be left unchecked. The “China Exclusion Act” sends a signal to Beijing that Chinese aggression against Taiwan will Facing accountability from both economic and financial parties.

According to the bill, the bill will seek to exclude Chinese government officials from meetings and related activities of some international financial organizations, including the Group of 20 (G20), Bank for International Settlements (BIS), International Financial Stability Board (Financial Stability Board, Barcelona) Banking Supervisory Commission (BCBS), International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and other international financial organizations.

Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine has sparked international concerns about whether China will follow suit to threaten Taiwan’s security. Yellen said in response to a question from Republican Chief Congressman Patrick McHenry at the House Finance Committee hearing that the U.S. government and the Treasury Department opposed Any practice that unilaterally changes the status quo in Taiwan. The United States is working closely with allies to ensure that the tools are available to address possible threats to Taiwan.

She said the United States has imposed sanctions on China due to China’s forced labor in Xinjiang and provocation of Hong Kong. “Of course we care about Taiwan and will take appropriate action.” The U.S. actions after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine proved that the U.S. can do it with significant consequences, “and should not doubt our ability and determination to do the same in other circumstances”.

Clearing it into a political goal, experts: China will not deregulate until 2023

The strict closure of Shanghai has made the outside world question why such extreme measures are still needed to deal with the less toxic Omicron, and the fact that the spread of Omicron and its variants has been proved to be uncontrollable. However, foreign media analyzed that China took Hong Kong as a lesson, and the zero-clearing strategy has become mainstream political awareness, and China may not relax control until 2023.

For the past two years, Shanghai has been in a state of singing and dancing, and the Wuhan pneumonia period has not affected Shanghai. It seems that the virus has never crossed Shanghai in the future, but this time it cannot escape the rapidly spreading Omicron mutant strain. Shanghai is now in a state of war. According to Shanghai residents, community residents now rely on outsiders to be responsible for purchasing and cannot leave their homes. Some communities even have problems with material rationing, and they can even eat only one bowl of porridge a day. Large-scale people crowded hospitals for nucleic acid testing, and medical resources were crowded out, causing people who really needed medical assistance to lose their lives.

The sudden outbreak of the epidemic in Shanghai has made the epidemic prevention control messy. Even with the strictest control measures, Shanghai has reported a total of 40,000 cases in March, becoming the new virus center in China. To keep businesses running, the Shanghai government kept port, factory and some office workers living in their workplaces, such as those in the financial industry who were forced to sleep in their offices for weeks.

The economic shock is already on the horizon, with the Caixin Markit monthly index showing that China’s manufacturing activity fell to a two-year low in March amid disruptions to the outbreak and export orders cancelled after Russia invaded Ukraine. One statistic using trucking estimates that China’s lost productivity due to the lockdown is close to $50 billion a month. While the port is still operating normally, a supply chain tracking company said there has been a reduction in seaborne volumes.

The loss caused by the reset policy is too great. Originally, many people expected that the end of the Beijing Winter Olympics would bring a turning point in China’s new crown policy, but now the reset policy has become a mainstream political task, including Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Believing that the threat of BA.2 is still great, the country must adhere to this approach, and Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan also urged Shanghai to take decisive and swift action to contain the epidemic, while emphasizing the need to adhere to a dynamic zero-epidemic policy.

The outside world believes that the epidemic in Hong Kong has made China afraid. Low vaccination rates among the elderly are one of the reasons for the high COVID-19 mortality rate in Hong Kong, and these risk factors are also present in China. Only half of China’s population over the age of 80 has been twice vaccinated, and Chinese health authorities have repeatedly warned that the health system could be overwhelmed if the virus spreads widely among its 1.4 billion people, especially if vaccinations for older people lag behind.

According to QUARTZ, what China is doing now is to find as many infected people as possible, buy time to ensure adequate medical capacity and increase vaccination rates. The former chief economist at UBS said China must make sure there is no Hong Kong situation ahead of the Communist Party Congress this fall.

In addition, the new five-year development plan released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in January, which describes 2023-2025 as a period of growth for domestic and international travel, is also a signal for China to relax its zero-clearing strategy. The Chinese government is expected to keep restrictions on and off for the rest of 2022, with major changes only in 2023.

Just manned back to Earth, Russia threatens to withdraw from the International Space Station again

A few days ago, Russia just used the Soyuz spacecraft to bring 3 astronauts back to Earth from the International Space Station, showing that the cooperation between the United States and Russia on the International Space Station does not seem to be affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Rogozin suddenly reiterated his words to withdraw from the International Space Station until Western countries lift illegal sanctions against Russia.

When Russia raised troops to invade Ukraine, the United States, Japan, Canada and several European Union countries also began to impose sanctions on the country. In the face of counterattacks from Western countries, Russia also made all-out countermeasures, such as space cooperation. Refusing to use Russian rockets to launch scheduled missions, refusing to sell rocket engines to the United States, threatening to withdraw from the International Space Station, putting the facility at risk of falling, etc.

At 3:21 am Eastern Time on March 30th, American astronaut Mark Vande Hei and 2 other Russian astronauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov returned to Earth on the Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft, which originally dispelled Russia’s withdrawal from international space. Rumors of the station, I did not expect that on April 2, Dmitry Rogozin tweeted in Russian on his personal Twitter, two of which wrote “The purpose of their sanctions is to stifle the Russian economy, make the people fall into despair and starvation, and make our country submit”, ” They will not succeed, but their intentions are clear”, adding that “only if the illegal sanctions are lifted completely and unconditionally by the West, the ISS and other joint project cooperation will return to normal.”

Roscosmos will report to Russian authorities shortly when Roscosmos ends the ISS partnership, Dmitry Rogozin said, though Dmitry Rogozin’s tweet doesn’t necessarily mean the ISS is at risk of immediate disbandment, after all, he is a politically rhetorical politician But obviously as long as Western countries continue to sanction Russia, the threat to the International Space Station cannot be taken lightly.

At the same time, NASA remains committed to completing a space barter agreement with Russia for Russian astronaut Anna Kikina to participate in the Crew-5 mission launched in September this year, and NASA astronauts (according to “Spacenews”). reported that Frank Rubio may be involved in the Soyuz MS-22 mission also launched in September.

But NASA admits that the deal is still awaiting approval from the Russian government and that time is running out.

Russian tank sprayed with Z symbol, Samsung renamed Galaxy Z series to avoid suspicion

Since the release of the second-generation folding phones Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold2 in 2020, Samsung (Samsung) has begun to use Z to name its folding phone series, but it has recently been reported that they will be in at least 3 European countries. The folding phone in 2019 was urgently renamed and replaced, removing the Z from the product name and becoming the Galaxy Flip3 and Galaxy Fold3.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, whose products need to be renamed urgently, are all Baltic countries that are members of NATO and border Russia. It is reported that Samsung suddenly removed the Z from the product name in the above-mentioned markets in order to distance itself from Russia. Since the Russian military invaded Ukraine at the end of February, the media has photographed many Russian tanks with the word “Z” painted on them. Since there is no letter Z in Russian, the word Z has attracted a lot of speculation.

On the third day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its state-run media RT was selling T-shirts and merchandise with the Z word on social platforms to support the army. The authorities arranged for young people to wear Z clothes to hold pop-up support for the army in various places, turning Z into a hero. Symbol of support for Russia and the invasion of Ukraine. For Baltic consumers, seeing a neighboring country invade Ukraine has made the “Z” quite sensitive and apprehensive, so it’s understandable that Samsung removed the Z from the two foldable phones.

U.S. technology sanctions, “chips are like drugs, there is a black market”, it is difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of the Russian army

The United States yesterday imposed a new wave of sanctions on Russia’s technology industry. Experts said that how to prevent Western semiconductor chips from appearing in Russian weapons has become a major challenge for the industry, and clarifying the whereabouts of the chips is like tracing the flow of drugs.

Reuters reported that US Silicon Valley chip maker Marvell Technology Group Ltd. launched an investigation in 2016 after learning that one of its chips was inside a Russian unmanned spy plane, but found that the cost was less than $2 ( About NT$57) chips changed hands twice in Asia in 2009, and there was no follow-up after the final holding dealer closed down.

“We can’t go any further,” Chris Koopmans, chief operating officer of Meiman Electronic Technology, said in a recent interview.

A few years later, the chip appeared on a drone recovered in Lithuania.

Industry executives and experts say the Meiman Electronics case is just one of countless examples of chip makers’ inability to track the whereabouts of many of their low-end products. That could prevent the U.S. from imposing new sanctions aimed at curbing U.S. technology exports to Russia.

The high-end chips that make supercomputers are often sold directly to companies, but lower-cost chip products, such as those that might just control power, typically move between dealers several times before being loaded into devices.

Of the 578 billion chips the global chip industry is expected to ship this year, 64 percent are these low-cost chip commodities, said Dan Hutcheson, chip economist at industry research firm TechInsights.

According to data from World Semiconductor Trade Statistics Inc., although Russia accounted for less than 0.1% of global chip purchases before the international sanctions, the new wave of sanctions by Western countries is still important and highlights the importance of the chip industry. The challenge is to keep Western semiconductors from being used in Russian weapons.

Conflict Armament Research finds U.S. chips in Russian drones. “The drones we’ve seen before are unarmed,” said Damien Spleeters of the institute, adding that some of the drones on record, such as unmanned surveillance drones, are now used in Ukraine conflict, and became the armed version.

A report released by the Institute of Conflict Armaments last year pointed out that Intel, NXP, Analog Devices, Samsung Electronics, Texas Instruments were also found in Russian drones. ) and chips from STMicroelectronics.

Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment; NXP and Analog Devices said they complied with sanctions; Intel said it opposed the use of its own products to violate human rights; and Samsung said it did not manufacture chips for military use.

Experts believe that figuring out where the chips are going is like tracking down the flow of drugs.

“It’s like a drug trade, with brokers, middlemen, money laundering … and black market networks,” said James Lewis, director of the technology policy program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US think tank.

Lewis said that the focus of sanctions against Russia now is not to track down the whereabouts of each chip, but to disrupt the supply chain as the intelligence community has been trying to do.

Finding solutions may require creative technical approaches.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in a recent interview with Reuters, discussing high-end processors: “It can be a very good thing to know where the chips are going, for example, you can set the public key on each chip. and private key mechanism to authorize use.”

Meiman Electronic Technology said that more and more products of its products support fingerprint recognition and tracking functions, and continue to cooperate with industry partners and customers to improve in this field.

It may be difficult to add the above functions to a chip that costs less than $2 without raising the price. The solution may be in the manufacturing process, policy regulations, and determination.

“It’s ironic that we already have everything in place,” including technologies such as blockchain and device identification, but “only owes the wind,” said Michael Ford, director of Aegis Software, a software company that promotes supply chain security. The Russian invasion of Ukraine may be the catalyst for this.