Trump Tells Taiwan to Expect a Higher Price Tag for U.S. Defense

"Trump also accused Taiwan of sinking the U.S. semiconductor sector, signaling he wants a more transactional approach to shielding the island from China.

Donald J. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, said that Taiwan should pay the United States for defending it from China, a remark highlighting the uncertainties — and high stakes — of how he might handle the smoldering Taiwan Strait dispute if he should win a second term.

Taiwan depends on political and military support from the United States to help resist pressure from Beijing, which claims the island as Chinese territory. Mr. Trump warned that Taiwan is perilously exposed to any attack from China and far away from U.S. protection, and signaled that he would take a more bluntly conditional approach to Taiwan.

“I think Taiwan should pay us for defense,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that published on Tuesday. “You know, we’re no different than an insurance company.”

Just as Mr. Trump’s denigration of NATO has rattled America’s allies, his comments on Taiwan raised the question of how invested a second Trump presidency would be in the island’s defense. The United States is committed by law to help Taiwan defend itself, and leaves open the possibility of sending forces if Beijing ever attacks the island.

Mr. Trump also took aim at Taiwan’s dominance in making advanced semiconductors, saying: “They did take about 100 percent of our chip business.”

The share price of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company — the world’s biggest maker of advanced computer chips — fell by 2.4 percent on the island’s stock exchange on Wednesday, apparently in reaction to his comments.

Although Mr. Trump has made similar comments about Taiwan in recent years, his latest may land in Taiwan with a bigger impact, given his strong position in the race against President Biden.

“If I was in Taiwan, I would take this statement seriously because it is not an isolated remark — there is now a pattern,” said David Sacks, a fellow for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations “This statement, in particular, epitomizes Trumpism because it reflects his purely transactional view of foreign policy.”

Taiwan already pays for nearly all of its weapons orders from U.S. manufacturers, though the Biden administration has moved to directly transfer some military equipment to Taiwan, drawing on U.S. stockpiles. Mr. Trump’s broader point seemed to be that Taiwan owed the United States more for its overall security.

Still, Mr. Trump’s comments should not be read as the final word on U.S. policies toward Beijing and Taiwan if he wins in November, Taiwanese experts said. A chorus of voices in Washington, including the Republican nominee for vice president, J.D. Vance, may influence his position, they said.

“During his presidency, he did not openly talk about abandonment of Taiwan,” said Alexander C. Huang, an international security expert who advises Taiwan’s opposition Nationalist Party, referring to Mr. Trump’s term, which ended in January 2021. “We also already understand that President Trump, if he returns to the White House, would ask Taiwan to bear more responsibility for our defense.”

Taiwan’s government has been increasing spending on its military, and in 2022 it began extending conscription from 4 months to 12 months. But many Taiwanese experts and officials say that their island will need to spend more to deter China’s much larger army.

The Trump and Biden administrations both expanded support for Taiwan while U.S. relations with President Xi Jinping in Beijing soured drastically over the past eight years. On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry again denounced U.S. arms sales to Taiwan and said it would, in retaliation, suspend highly tentative nuclear arms control discussions with Washington.

Mr. Trump’s running mate, Mr. Vance, and other Republicans have argued that China remains the most pressing global challenge to the United States, and some say that protecting Taiwan should be a higher priority for Washington than backing Ukraine against Russia.

“I think that we should make it as hard as possible for China to take Taiwan in the first place,” Mr. Vance told The New York Times in an interview published last month. “We’re not doing that because we’re sending all the damn weapons to Ukraine and not Taiwan.”

Taiwanese officials have also vigorously courted bipartisan support in Congress. Taiwan’s supporters in the Republican Party could persuade Mr. Trump to be less skeptical of the island if he wins, said Raymond Chen-En Sung, the vice president of the Prospect Foundation, an institute affiliated with the Taiwanese government.

“The strategic competition between the U.S. and China is something for the whole national security circle around Mr. Trump,” he said. If Mr. Trump won a new term, Mr. Sung added, “I believe they will have the task of educating the president about the importance of Taiwan.”

Even so, Mr. Trump’s comments are likely to spur Taiwan to try to assure the United States — and Mr. Trump — that it is committed to completing semiconductor plants in Arizona and to spending more on its own military.

“We’re willing to shoulder more responsibility. This is us defending ourselves,” Taiwan’s premier, Cho Jung-tai, said in response to Mr. Trump’s remarks. “We’re very grateful” for U.S. support, he added.

Officials in Washington have long been concerned about the world’s reliance on Taiwan for advanced semiconductors, the tiny computer chips that power electronic devices from iPhones to fighter jets.

Over the past four years, TSMC has committed to building new factories in Japan, Germany and Arizona. In April, the Biden administration awarded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, a $6.6 billion grant to try to bring cutting-edge chip making to the United States.

Mr. Trump suggested that was a raw deal.

“Now we’re giving them billions of dollars to build new chips in our country, and then they’re going to take that, too,” Mr. Trump said in the interview. He said that China’s leader, Mr. Xi, also coveted Taiwan’s semiconductor facilities. “That’s the apple of President Xi’s eye,” Mr. Trump said.

The notion that Taiwan had “taken” the United States semiconductor business was a misunderstanding, said Eric Huang, vice president at Digitimes, a tech industry market research firm based in Taiwan. Most of the world’s top semiconductor companies by market value are American firms like Nvidia and Qualcomm, Mr. Huang said.

“Taiwan plays a supporting role primarily by providing manufacturing services for these U.S. chip companies,” he said." [1]

Right. Taiwan is manufacturing chips for American companies. This is exactly the same as D. Trump is saying. Americans are just reselling those chips for high prices. This is how you get the high market value.

1. Trump Tells Taiwan to Expect a Higher Price Tag for U.S. Defense. Buckley, Chris.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Jul 17, 2024.

 

Ančiuviai visada yra gera idėja

„Norint suprasti ančiuvius, reikia suprasti umami.

 

 Didžiąją istorijos dalį buvo atpažįstami tik keturi skoniai: saldus, rūgštus, kartus ir sūrus. Tikriausiai jie buvo išskirti maždaug V amžiuje prieš Kristų. graikų filosofo Demokrito. Keturių skonių mantra buvo kartojama – su keliomis žymiomis išimtimis – tol, kol japonų chemikas, vardu Kikunae Ikeda, XX a. pradžioje užsiminė, kad gali būti nenustatytas penktasis.

 

 P. Ikeda pastebėjo, kad iš pažiūros nesusiję maisto produktai, tokie, kaip šparagai, pomidorai, sūris, virta mėsa ir daši, tradicinis japonų virtuvės sultinys, gaminamas iš kombu jūros dumblių ir džiovintų žuvies dribsnių, turi kažką bendro, kuri nesutampa su nė vienu iš keturių pripažintų skonių. Jis ėmėsi analizuoti kombu, kad atskleistų šio unikalaus skonio cheminį pagrindą.

 

 Po kelių mėnesių kruopštaus cheminio redukavimo jūros dumbliai davė šaltinį – nedidelį kiekį glutamato, kuris susprogdino skonį, kai buvo derinamas su natriu ir pabarstytas ant maisto. Skonį jis pavadino umami pagal japonų žodį „umai“, kuris labai grubiai verčiamas, kaip pikantiškas skonis.

 

 Konservuoti ančiuviai – sūdyti, supakuoti aliejuje ar paversti žuvies padažu – turi nepaprastai daug umami. Net pusę ančiuvio ar nedidelio šlakelio žuvies padažo įdėjus į šiaip paprastą patiekalą, jis gali įgyti naują skonio sritį. Nepaisant šio sugebėjimo, kai kuriose Vakarų kultūrose ančiuviai yra žinomi poliarizuoti. (Atrodo, kad tokios atskirties nėra daugelyje Azijos vietų, kur jie reguliariai vartojami švieži, džiovinti arba su žuvies padažu.)

 

 Tačiau atėjo laikas ančiuviams suteikti dar vieną galimybę. Tai laikas, kai mes permąstome, kaip valgome. Žinome, kad raudona mėsa ir gyvuliniai riebalai kenkia mūsų kūnui ir planetai. Žinome, kad turime valgyti daugiau visaverčio maisto, daugiau augalų, gerųjų riebalų, daugiau grūdų ir ankštinių augalų. Ančiuvių grožis yra tas, kad tai maža, greitai auganti žuvis, kurią galima sugauti tvariai, ji yra naudinga mums ir labai gerai padaro kitus mums naudingus dalykus. Mes tai žinome, nes tai daro tūkstantmečius: senovės Romoje jis pagyvino ėrieną ir juodaakius žirnius, pagardino prancūzų aukštosios virtuvės padažus ir atliko pagrindinį vaidmenį užkandžiuose prabangiuose Niujorko restoranuose.

 

 Senovės romėnai pirmieji Europoje rinko ir pramoniniu mastu sunaudojo ančiuvius ir kitas smulkias žuvis. Visoje jų imperijoje aitrus žuvies padažas garum, dažnai gaminamas su ančiuviais, buvo vartojamas dideliais kiekiais. Garumo aromatas toks išskirtinis, kad septintajame dešimtmetyje senoviniame Pompėjos mieste ekskavatoriai atkasė 2000 metų senumo konteinerius, kurie, pasak jų, vis dar skleidė kvapą.

 

 Net jei romėnai neturėjo pripažintos umami koncepcijos, jie suprato, kad žuvies padažas pagerina jų maisto skonį. Daug geriau. Senovės romėnų receptų sąvade, vadinamame „Apicius“ ir laikoma seniausia pasaulyje išlikusia kulinarijos knyga, maždaug 350 iš daugiau nei 400 receptų naudojamas žuvies padažas. Tarp jų yra vienas lęšiams, senovės romėnų pagrindinis maistas, kuriame taip pat siūloma pridėti porų, kalendros, mėtų, medaus ir vyno. [1]

 

 Ančiuviai taip pat dešimtmečius tobulino prancūzų aukštąją virtuvę. 1651 m. François Pierre de La Varenne „Le Cuisinier françois“ nurodė virėjams ir namų virėjams į padažus dėti ančiuvių (ir daug sviesto), taip pradėdamas erą, kai ančiuviai buvo skonio stipriklis. XVIII amžiuje Vincentas La Chappelle'as ragino savo „Le Cuisinier Moderne“ skaitytojus pridėti du ar tris ančiuvius į veršienos ir kumpio kulisą. „Tegul būna karšta ir skanu“, – rašė jis. Taip pat maždaug tuo metu François Menono kulinarijos knygoje buvo pateiktas vieno iš visų laikų puikių kulinarinių aljansų – ančiuvių ir skrebučio – receptas.

 

 Šie skoniai ir mados perėjo į Didžiąją Britaniją, tačiau būtent per prieskonius ančiuviai pasiekė britų virtuvės širdį. XVII amžiuje iš Rytų Azijos grįžę prekybininkai parsiveždavo žuvies padažų, įskaitant vieną, vadinamą kecap, kuris greitai išpopuliarėjo. Didžiosios Britanijos virėjai ir namų šeimininkės sukūrė atvirkštinį procesą, kad sukurtų savo pačių užaugintas ančiuvių versijas, kurias galiausiai pavadino kečupu. 1769 m. Elizabeth Raffald kulinarijos knygoje „Patyrusi anglų namų šeimininkė“ buvo 144 receptai, kuriuose buvo reikalaujama su ančiuviais užpilti kečupo ar pagardų. Iki XIX amžiaus pradžios jie buvo bona fide virtuvės pagrindas.

 

 Žinoma, kečupas, galiausiai, pateko į Ameriką, tačiau amerikietiška versija išsivystė, praradus ančiuvius,  pomidorų ir cukraus naudai. (Šiandien britiškame kečupe taip pat dažniausiai nenaudojami ančiuviai, nors vis dar yra populiarių pagardų.) Daugumai amerikiečių nereikėjo mažos žuvies, kaip skonio stipriklio, nes dėl įperkamos mėsos, vištienos ir didesnių žuvų gausa buvo gausu umami galėjo gauti iš kitų šaltinių, net ir vargšai. Vis dėlto ančiuviai rado namus prabangiuose prancūzų restoranuose, įskaitant Niujorko „Delmonico's“, kur dažnai pradėdavo valgyti su ančiuviais ant skrebučio. Tokie madingi užkandžiai tiko daugelio niujorkiečių troškimams XX amžiaus aušroje.

 

 Esame su dar viena ančiuvių akimirka. Virėjai noriai prisipažįsta mylintys „jūros lašinius“. Namų virėjams ir gurmanams jie yra „įperkama prabanga“. Ir yra ištisi restoranai, skirti žuvies konservams.

 

 Tai geras dalykas. Kadangi daugelis iš mūsų pereina prie augalinės mitybos, ančiuviai gali ir turėtų būti raginami atlikti daugiau kulinarinių sunkumų. Jie turi daug maistinių medžiagų ir pilni širdžiai naudingų omega-3 riebalų rūgščių. Juose gausu baltymų ir vitaminų bei mineralų. Ir skirtingai nei didesnės, lėčiau augančios ir ilgiau gyvenančios žuvys, kurios gyvena aukščiau maisto grandinės ir tampa gyvsidabrio saugyklomis, ančiuviai greitai auga, yra maisto grandinės apačioje su mažiau gyvsidabrio.

 

 Ir, kaip rodo istorija, galimybės pridėti ančiuvių yra beveik neribotos: praturtinkite prancūzišką vinigretą pridėdami pusę ančiuvių. Beveik visas daržoves pagerinkite su trupučiu ančiuvių, česnako ir čili dribsnių. Į keptą žuvį įdėkite keletą šviežių žolelių ir porą ančiuvių.

 

 Sekite Gaspare'o Delle Piane'o, vienuolio ir kulinarinės knygos be mėsos autoriaus XIX amžiaus Italijoje, pavyzdžiu ir įmeskite vieną ar du (ar tris!) į puodą lęšių.

 

 Arba pasigaminkite kaip XVIII amžiaus šefas Vincentas La Chapelle ir prieš patiekdami aptepkite visą filė ant vištienos kepsnio viršaus.

 

 Nuo Romos imperijos iki šių dienų šios mažytės žuvytės skonis visada viršijo savo svorį. Taigi kitą kartą, kai norėsite į savo valgį įtraukti šiek tiek magijos, pridėkite ančiuvių. Nemanau, kad pasigailėsite.

 

 Christopheris Beckmanas yra knygos „Uodegos posūkis: kaip kuklūs ančiuviai pagardino vakarietišką virtuvę“, iš kurios buvo pritaikyta ši esė, autorius [2].

 

 1. "Išbandykite 10 vištienos šlaunelių padažo su 3 šaukštais Red Boat Fish Sauce, kuriame yra ančiuvių ir jūros druskos."

2. Anchovies Are Always a Good Idea: Guest Essay. Beckman, Christopher.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Jul 17, 2024.

Anchovies Are Always a Good Idea

"To understand anchovies, you need to understand umami.

For most of history, just four tastes were recognized: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. They were probably singled out around the fifth century B.C.E. by the Greek philosopher Democritus. The mantra of four tastes was repeated — with a few notable exceptions — until a Japanese chemist named Kikunae Ikeda posited in the early 1900s that there might be an unidentified fifth.

Mr. Ikeda had noticed that seemingly unrelated foods such as asparagus, tomatoes, cheese, cooked meats and dashi, a traditional broth in Japanese cuisine made from kombu seaweed and dried fish flakes, had something in common that did not align with any of the four recognized tastes. He set about analyzing kombu to tease out the chemical foundation of this unique flavor. 

After months of painstaking chemical reductions, the seaweed yielded the source — a tiny amount of glutamate, which exploded with flavor when combined with sodium and sprinkled on food. He named the taste umami, after the Japanese word “umai,” which translates — very roughly — as savory taste.

Preserved anchovies — whether salted, packed in oil or transformed into fish sauce — have extraordinarily high levels of umami. Adding even half an anchovy or a small splash of fish sauce to an otherwise simple dish can turbocharge it to a new realm of flavor. Despite this ability, in some Western cultures anchovies are notoriously polarizing. (No such divide seems to exist in many parts of Asia, however, where they are regularly consumed fresh, dried or in fish sauce.)

But it’s time for the leery to give anchovies another chance. These are times in which we’re rethinking how we eat. We know that red meat and animal fats are hard on our bodies and the planet. We know we need to be eating more whole foods, more plants, more good fats, more grains and pulses. The beauty of the anchovy is that it’s a small, fast-growing fish that can be sustainably caught, is good for us and is very good at making other things that are good for us taste great. We know that because it’s been doing so for millenniums: It enlivened lamb and black-eyed peas in ancient Rome, spiked the sauces of French haute cuisine and had a starring role in hors d’oeuvres at fancy New York restaurants.

The ancient Romans were the first in Europe to harvest and consume anchovies and other small fish on an industrial scale. Across their empire, the pungent fish sauce garum — often made with anchovies — was consumed in large quantities. So distinctive is the aroma of garum that during the 1960s in the ancient city of Pompeii, excavators unearthed 2,000-year-old containers that they said still exuded the smell.

Even if the Romans had no recognized concept of umami, they understood that fish sauce made their food taste better. Much better. In the ancient Roman recipe compendium known as “Apicius” and considered to be the world’s oldest surviving cookbook, some 350 of more than 400 recipes use fish sauce. They include one for lentils, an ancient Roman staple, which suggests also adding leek, cilantro, mint, honey and wine. [1]

Anchovies also spent decades elevating French haute cuisine. François Pierre de La Varenne’s “Le Cuisinier françois” in 1651 instructed chefs and home cooks to add anchovies (and copious amounts of butter) into sauces, largely inaugurating an era in which anchovies were a flavor enhancer de rigueur. In the 18th century, Vincent La Chappelle was exhorting readers of his “Le Cuisinier Moderne” to add two or three anchovies to a coulis of veal and ham. “Let it be hot and relishing,” he wrote. It was also around this time that a cookbook by François Menon featured the recipe for one of the all-time great culinary alliances: anchovies and toast.

These flavors and fashions crossed the channel to Britain, but it was through condiments that anchovies reached the heart of British cuisine. Traders returning from East Asia in the 17th century brought back fish sauces, including one called kecap, which quickly became all the rage. Cooks and housewives in Britain reverse-engineered the process to create their own homegrown, anchovy-based versions, which they eventually called ketchup. In 1769, Elizabeth Raffald’s cookbook “The Experienced English Housekeeper” contained 144 recipes that called for anchovy-infused ketchup or condiments. By the early 19th century, they were a bona fide kitchen staple.

Ketchup, of course, eventually made its way to America, but the American version evolved by losing anchovies in favor of plenty of tomatoes and sugar. (British ketchup mostly doesn’t use anchovies today either, though there are still some popular condiments that do.) Most Americans had little need for a diminutive fish as a flavor enhancer because the abundance of affordable meat, fowl and larger fish meant that plenty of umami could be had from other sources, even by the poor. Nonetheless, anchovies did find a home in fancy French restaurants, including New York’s Delmonico’s, where one often began a meal with anchovies on toast. Such trendy hors d’oeuvres appealed to the aspirations of many a New Yorker at the dawn of the 20th century.

We’re in another anchovy moment. Chefs eagerly confess their love for the “bacon of the sea.” For home cooks and foodies they’re an “affordable luxury.” And there are whole restaurants devoted to canned fish.

That’s a good thing. As many of us move toward plant-based eating, anchovies can and should be called upon to do more of the culinary heavy lifting. They are nutrient-dense and full of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. They are loaded with protein and packed with vitamins and minerals. And unlike larger, slower-growing and longer-living fish that reside higher up the food chain and become repositories for mercury, anchovies are fast-growing, at the bottom of the food chain and lower in mercury.

And, as history shows, the opportunities to add an anchovy are almost endless: Perk up a French vinaigrette by adding half an anchovy. Improve almost any vegetable with a little anchovy, garlic and chili flakes. Add a few fresh herbs and a couple of anchovies to baked fish. 

Follow the lead of Gaspare Delle Piane, a monk and the author of a meat-free cookbook in 19th-century Italy, and toss one or two (or three!) into a pot of lentils. 

Or make like the 18th-century chef Vincent La Chapelle and drape whole fillets across the top of a roast fowl just before serving.

From the Roman Empire to the present, this tiny fish has always punched above its weight in flavor. So the next time you want to add a little magic to your meal, add an anchovy. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Christopher Beckman is the author of “A Twist in the Tail: How the Humble Anchovy Flavored Western Cuisine,” from which this essay is adapted." [2]

1. "Try for 10 chicken thighs a sauce with 3 tbsp. of Red Boat Fish Sauce containing anchovies and sea salt."

2. Anchovies Are Always a Good Idea: Guest Essay. Beckman, Christopher.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Jul 17, 2024.