I totally understand the predicament about the supply chain expertise and the electronics expertise. At least in manufacturing because to the last bit of knowledge here, Samsung has a nearly monopoly over memory and other component parts and Samsung is still corean so are their engineers at HQ. And we can say the same things about other electronic parts designed by japanese companies and Taiwanese companies.
And yes China is the world factory so, most of the suppliers are there.
Does that mean that we shouldn’t try ? I don’t think so. Other brands in electronics have succeeded over time to build elsewhere. Intel does it, amd does it, Samsung does it for some parts, some European phone have been made without the help of China either. So it’s feasible. And to my knowledge I didn’t speak about make the whole phone in EU or USA, but even if I did, at least for USA that doesn’t mean that the phone would be 4 times more. That’s an old myth because actually because the policy of Trump (which I’m not pro for him, more the opposite) we can see that you always find a way to afford to build things there without really raising the price. But we can talk about the studies who explained it in another thread if you want.
But I was speaking about other Asian countries around China which are totally equipped to build electronical parts even in Latin America like Costa Rica.
More that I wanted to point out, is that because of the communist strategy put in place by the Xi jinping and huawei we should be cautious and anticipate and start a process where we can cut loose of China in the manufacturing… that’s what I’m saying. And I’m not sure it’s on the way to start. And I can totally be empathetic about why as you demonstrated earlier, it’s convenient.
What I would like to see is a process where every 3-6 months the situation is re-evaluating and contact been made to other companies around the world to change the supply line. That’s all. If a possibility is seen in those analysis for whatever parts it is, I think it should be great to talke it.
And when corbeau is saying wierd geopolitical game, I disagree.
The situation is simple. China is still a dictatorship. Still a land when you have country-scale censorship, still a country where you can’t say something against the regime without being punished in some ways and it’s not on the verge to change since the last update of the communist party. A country where some people are disappearing because of their actions against the regime without a trace. A country where children are in the factory even if it’s against the law in that same country. A country which is not really afraid anymore to invade another one because it’s supposed to be part of their national territory in their history. Speak with a Taiwanese or a japanese about it, I’m sure you will be welcomed.
A country where the policy of being business is way more harsh than the US one actually, ask the dockers in Greece where China bought a port or in The whole African continent.
A country where now the president is in place for life.
It’s not like they would have a twisted discourse, their intentions are clear and are made public in every communist party convention. And the goal for China and the consortium around huawei are clear and made public also. It’s nothing more than a take-over.
So no, it’s not a wierd geopolitical game. It’s a reaction to a situation and to a clear declaration. Nothing more. And yes we have also economical interests in it but if it has to come to that point to change our way of thinking about manufacturing everything in China then why not.
I’m not here for propaganda. I’m actually tired of listing all those things which are facts, demonstrated and refreshed every years or 2 years at least by European investigation journalism or NGO’, because people tend to forget all that and to think that it is a standard country since we are making business with them. I didn’t say we should stop immediately, but I would like some reassuring word where there are actually someone in the company who does that kind of analysis and try to find solutions in the long term for those things or if there is not, then engage a process to make something about that.
If even to ask questions and ask if someone is working on this or if we can start a process to do this is too much then waouw … why are we even here then if not to try to improve our world… was it not our primary goal after all or what ? Make tools that are not controlled or submissive to someone else control than the owner and show to the world that you can do it and surely in an open source way even.
And if having no control over a company or product, like you have potentially for a US or EU or other nationalities, doesn’t bother you more than that, then really why are we even buying purism ? To be able to brag about it or what ? Because everyone here is so afraid of the big brother but did you have ever read or experienced about a conflict in China (company or individual)? You can always dream to have control over the situation without being a Chinese national with connections.
After that I said my part. I’m not here to convince but to ask questions and hopefully find answers.
