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[FYI]
- To: debate@fitug.de
- Subject: [FYI]
- From: Kristian Köhntopp <kk@netuse.de>
- Date: Mon, 14 Jun 1999 10:24:26 +0200
- Comment: This message comes from the debate mailing list.
- Organization: NetUSE GmbH
- Sender: owner-debate@fitug.de
http://www.nytimes.com/library/review/061399china-chips-review.html
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June 13, 1999
Letting the Chips Fall Where They May
By DAVID E. SANGER
ASHINGTON -- Bad news for Chinese generals: The United
States Commerce Department has just determined that the new
Sony Playstation II, available later this year, is powered by an
American-made chip so powerful that Washington would have to be
notified before it could be shipped to China. If the final destination were a
company, institute or household linked to the Chinese military, a lengthy
review would be required to make sure America's most sophisticated
technology does not fall into the hands of bomb makers.
But any Chinese officer determined to play out his fantasies on a
state-of-the-art Sony -- perhaps simulate a naval attack to retake
Taiwan? -- has other options. He could simply send his teen-agers over
to shop at any of the five Toys 'R' Us stores in Hong Kong, which is still
considered a safe place to send advanced technology even though it
reverted to China two years ago.
The issue of the Playstation is bandied around a lot in Washington these
days as one more example of how disconnected the politics of controlling
high-tech exports is from the realities of a marketplace that reinvents itself
every six months. In the wake of the disclosures about Chinese
espionage, there has been daily talk on Capitol Hill about crackdowns on
the export of American technology, not only nuclear secrets from the
labs, which everyone agrees must be locked up, but also the computing
power that would help the Chinese simulate nuclear explosions.
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Kristian Köhntopp, NetUSE Kommunikationstechnologie GmbH
Siemenswall, D-24107 Kiel, Germany, +49 431 386 436 00
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