{"id":99,"date":"2026-04-14T04:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T04:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/?p=99"},"modified":"2026-04-14T04:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T04:27:20","slug":"all-they-know-is-critical-mineral-ai-race-eat-hot-nvidia-chip-and-lie-think-tank-bingo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/?p=99","title":{"rendered":"All they know is Critical Mineral, AI Race, Eat Hot Nvidia Chip and Lie (Think Tank Bingo)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2026-04-14T04:27:20+00:00\">April 14, 2026<\/time><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Every China talk in the city of Washington D.C. is about the same thing.\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/china-town-hall-tickets-1985514953675?aff=ebdsoporgprofile\">On April 7<sup>th<\/sup>, USCET hosted a joint event with Young China Watchers<\/a>, and that event truly caught me in a vengeful mood.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I go to a normal amount of these types of geopolitics\/global affairs\/free food events, and I have to say that the pickings are somehow better for Russia watchers than they are for China watchers!&nbsp; This, despite the current China fixation.&nbsp; Somehow, most speakers on Russia have some hyper-specific niche or new tidbit to add to the conversation.&nbsp; Often they have written longer monographs on Russia (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennaninstitute.org\/kennanconversations\">as with Kennan Institute events<\/a>), whereas the people brought in to chat about China are usually the authors of shorter pieces, either for news outlets or think tank reports (<a href=\"https:\/\/acf.sais.jhu.edu\/the-china-debate-were-not-having-politics-technology-and-the-road-ahead\/\">as with the lineup for this Johns Hopkins SAIS event<\/a>).&nbsp; Perhaps that explains why the China hands sound so generic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because every event from the past month in the China sphere has touched upon the same 4-6 topics, I\u2019ll be posting a longer synthesis of my notes here: The China Debate No One Will Shut Up About<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To tide you over, I and some other devious individuals have prepared a \u2018China Think Tank Bingo\u2019 card.&nbsp; Feel free to plug these into any Bingo card generator and play along next time you go to a China event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Cross off a box if:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Nvidia mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">War in Iran (2026-) mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Xinjiang is <strong>not <\/strong>mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A panelist says \u201cde-risking\u201d and\/or \u201cde-coupling\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Someone mentions overcapacity, involution\/\u5185\u5377<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A specific university program is mentioned (NYU Shanghai, Duke Kunshan, Hopkins Nanjing Center, etc\u2026)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Tariffs mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">China\u2019s nuclear weapons buildup mentioned <strong>but <\/strong>not discussed for more than two minutes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Electric vehicles (EVs\u2014but extra points if they use the Chinese terminology of \u2018NEVs\u2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">One of the panelists currently works at a think tank<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">One of the panelists <strong>used <\/strong>to work in the US Government<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The CHIPS and Science Act is mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe need more people studying and going to China.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">COVID-19 is <strong>not <\/strong>mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Critical Minerals are mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The panelists are bamboozled and befuddled by Trump\u2019s actions<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A panelist thanks the organizers and fellow panelists<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Nobody from the private sector is on the panel<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">There are A\/V issues<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Russia-Ukraine War mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Trump-Xi Summit (est. May 2026) mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Chips and Semiconductors mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe need to collaborate on climate crisis\u201d is said with no elaboration on how to accomplish this<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">A panelist worked specifically for the Biden administration<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cUS-China AI race\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">No countries except the US and China are discussed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Africa ignored<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">EU ignored<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Rest of Asia ignored<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Local Taiwanese politics ignored<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Religion not mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Environment not mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cDebt-trap diplomacy\u201d or Belt and Road Initiative mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Fentanyl ignored because no one here lives in Ohio<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cWe really don\u2019t know anything\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">TikTok mentioned<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cEnd of the old world order\u201d\/\u201cLiberal Rules-based International Order\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">No places in the PRC except Beijing and Shanghai mentioned by name<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><a href=\"https:\/\/merics.org\/en\/comment\/following-party-line-calendar-key-chinese-government-and-communist-party-meetings\">Name drop of a big Chinese governmental event<\/a> or thing, eg: The Two Sessions, Plenary Sessions, Five Year Plan, etc\u2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Argument about whether Taiwan is a country<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u201cis China an ally, a competitor, or an adversary?\u201d OR its more hawkish cousin: \u201cis China a competitor, a rival, or an enemy?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me know how the bingo goes.&nbsp; I hope it\u2019s fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every China talk in the city of Washington D.C. is about the same thing.\u00a0 On April 7th, USCET hosted a joint event with Young China Watchers, and that event truly caught me in a vengeful mood.\u00a0 I go to a normal amount of these types of geopolitics\/global affairs\/free food events, and I have to say [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions\/100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mouthwash.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}