This is your Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates podcast.
Hey listeners, I’m Ting, your go-to expert on all things China, cyber, and hacking—strap in, because the US-China tech war just hit another level of “are-you-kidding-me?” over the last two weeks.
Let’s start with the juiciest cyber saga: According to the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the NSA launched sustained cyberattacks on China’s National Time Service Center in Xi’an, which, by the way, keeps the atomic beat for everything from Shanghai’s stock trades to rocket launches at Jiuquan. The allegations? The US allegedly wriggled in using stolen logins and a foreign smartphone’s messaging app, swiping secrets and messing with internal systems as far back as 2022. They even deployed 42 flavors of custom hacking tools—very NSA, very “spy versus spy.” China claims the Americans tried to disrupt Beijing Time itself, which could mean comms outages, financial gridlock, and even spaceflight failures. Beijing’s tone? Let’s call it: aggrieved, but “we caught you” confident, especially since they say they’ve upgraded their cyber-defenses and are now pointing fingers right back at the US “hacker empire.” This is battle-of-the-hackers at state level.
Meanwhile, in the analog world, the US and China are playing hot potato with rare earths and microchips. On October 7th, President Donald Trump rolled out a 100% tariff on Chinese goods and software, then started floating even bigger sticks—think halting Microsoft updates in China and banning chip design software, both areas where US and allies still reign supreme. US Treasury also started talks for a $20 billion package to Argentina, aiming to keep them in the US orbit and curb Chinese influence in South America.
China didn’t just sit on its hands. It unleashed a new round of rare earth export controls. If the product contains even one-thousandth of Chinese rare earths, you now need Beijing’s permission to export it out of China—regardless of where it’s made. That means a chip made in the Philippines with Chinese-sourced dysprosium (essential for heat-resistant capacitors) can get the whole shipment blocked if Uncle Xi says nyet. As Bloomberg recently put it, China mines 70% and processes 90% of rare earths globally—they have the ultimate minerals lever. The result? Ford's Chicago plant already felt it with shutdowns, and the tremors are reaching across auto, aerospace, and AI.
The strategic implications? Both sides are gambling. The Trump administration warns that China’s moves could backfire, especially if Western allies go all-in on restricting Chinese exports—and there are hints that the US could use its control over aircraft parts or financial systems to fight back. Capital Economics analysts suggest the risk is global segmentation; that’s a polite way to say companies—like Qualcomm or Nexperia—are caught in the crossfire, and everyone from Germany to Mexico is drafting their own tariffs.
The expert forecast: Expect more reciprocal tech and trade restrictions, rapid-fire innovation on both sides as export controls bite, and potential deepening of global splits in everything—from semiconductors to the way your phone tells time.
That’s a wrap for this week on Beijing Bytes: US-China Tech War Updates. Thanks for tuning in, hackers, analysts, and trade warriors alike. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss a byte. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
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