WSJ: US To Allow ROK, Taiwan Chip makers To Keep Operations In China

Wall Street Journal reporting potentially significant news that the US will "allow South Korean, Taiwan chipmakers to keep operations in China."

• WSJ: "The Biden Administration plans to allow top semiconductor manufacturers from South Korea and Taiwan to maintain and expand their existing chip-making operation in China without US reprisals, according to remarks by a senior Commerce Department official."
• If accurate, the news would represent another shift away from the US policy of nearshoring semiconductor operations away from China and continue tentative steps towards a thaw in relations.
• The news comes after US officials confirmed on Friday that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China for talks with top Chinese officials on June 18. That trip would make Blinken the highest-level US official to visit China since then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018 and may include a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
• Blinken's trip may lay the groundwork for a bilateral meeting between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 Leaders Summit in Delhi in September.