Geopolitical Expression

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Country and Capital near China in south Asia

  • Myanmar/'mjænmɑ:/(Burma/ˈbə…ma/): Naypyidaw/nei-pyee-daw/, Yangon(old)
  • Laos: Vientiane /vi-yan-chain/
  • Thailand: Bangkok/ˈbæŋˌkɑk/
  • Vietnam /ˌvjet’næm/: Hanoi/hæ’nɔi/, Ho Chi Minh City
  • Cambodia/kæmˈbodiə/: Phnom Penh/pəˈnɔm ˈpɛn/
  • Malaysia/mə’leiʒə/: Kuala Lumpur/ˈkwɑlə lʊmˈpʊr/
  • Philippines: Manila/mə’nɪlə/, Mindanao/ˌmɪndəˈnɑo/棉兰老岛
  • Nepal/ni’pɔ:l/: Kathmandu/ˌkætmænˈdu/
  • Bhutan/bu:'tæn/: Thimphu /'θimfu:/

Northern America

High tech regions in Canada:

  • Toronto/tə’run təu/ 多伦多
  • Vancouver/vænˈkuvɚ/ 温哥华
  • Ottawa/'ɔtəwə/: capital
  • Montreal/ˌmɑntriˈɔl/ 蒙特利尔
  • Waterloo Region 滑铁卢

Southern America

  • Argentina/ˌɑ:dʒən’ti:nə/ 阿根廷

Europe

  • Belarusian/ˌbɛləˈru si en/ 白俄罗斯的，白俄罗斯人的, 白俄罗斯人
  • Ukraine, Ukrainian /juˈkreniən/
  • Lithuania, Lithuanian /ˌliθju:'einiə/ 立陶宛
  • Switzerland

Africa

  • Algeria /æl’dʒiəriə/ 阿尔及利亚

Middle East

  • Israel/'izreiəl/, Israeli/ɪzˈreli/
  • Palestine/'pælistain/, Palestinian/ˌpælis’tiniən/
  • Arab/'ærəb/, Arabian/əˈrebiən/

DWW

  • they are not that imaginative to get those ideas from nowhere.

  • domestically produced DUV lithography/lɪ’θɑɡrəfi/ machine

  • it is losing all the leverage(non-count) it had

  • China is not affected by the western media hype/ai/: a deception carried out for the sake of publicity

  • interfere vs intervene: “intervene” generally suggests getting involved in a situation to positively influence or assist, while “interfere” implies involvement that disrupts or negatively impacts the situation.

    • The teacher intervened to stop the bullying and resolve the conflict between the students.
    • I didn’t want to interfere with their plans, so I refrained from offering my opinion.

  • embassy(locates in capital of foreign country) vs consulate(other cities):

    • Ambassadors lead embassies
    • consuls or consuls general lead consulates.

  • Musk is a little too much in this election, he can fly to China to apply for policital asylum/əˈsaɪləm/ if harris wins.

  • men usually have stronger nationalism and ideology/ˌaɪdiˈɑːlədʒi/, can cause social unrest

  • The woman is a chinese national, the two men who attacked her are still at large

  • the passerby reports that 2 men are beating and kicking a woman.

  • hemorrhagic/ˌheməˈrajik/ shock

  • scene/siːn/ of crime

  • lebanon /'lebənən/黎巴嫩, attacked by pagers and walkie talkie packed with explosives/bomb/bɑːm/

  • I strongly condemn the crime of stabbing, the criminal has been arrested and should be punished by law

  • anti-xxx sentiment/ˈsentɪmənt/ | attitude

  • war criminals, yasukuni/ya su ku ni/ shrine

  • Nanjing massacre/ˈmæsəkər/ memorial hall, kneel/niːl/ down at the victim’s memorial: memorial(death or loss) vs monument(honor/celebrate)

  • 300,000 chinese civilians 平民, ordinary people, ordinary citizens

  • Import Expo/ˈɛkspo/: a large exhibition

  • Foreign Minister, Foreign Ministry spokesperson, ministry of foreign affairs

  • treasury secretary 财政部长

  • Defense Secretary 国防部长

  • state department (美国)国务院

  • dumb question, cry more pls, spineless govt, money talks, time talks

  • national sovereignty/ˈsɑːvrənti/, economic sovereignty

  • propaganda war

  • supplement(for adding value to proposal in design) vs complement(互补)

  • democratic system, political system, public show

  • I don’t oppose/əˈpoʊz/ the ideas such as feminism/'fɛmənɪzəm/ and LGBT, they should be restricted or at least not encouraged in China.

  • hegemony/hɪ’dʒɛmoni/

  • moving forward step by step seems to be the current strategy

  • despite the worst year in Chinese real estate history, China’s GDP growth can still maintain a growth rate of 5%. The Chinese economy is clearly transitioning from real estate to high-end manufacture such as electric vehicles and chips.

  • genocide/'dʒɛnəsaɪd/ against XJ muslims /ˈmʌ len/

  • Find a patient who has been severely brainwashed, good luck.

  • it is so spectacular/spekˈtækjələr/! I am really looking forward to my upcoming travel to China, which coincides with the chinese spring festival

  • hydroelectric power plant: 水电

  • agricultural and mineral/ˈmɪnərəl/ product

  • Boeing max: flying coffin/ˈkɔfɪn/

  • laughing stock: 笑柄

  • arrest, prosecute/ˈprɑːsɪkjuːt/ and extort/ɪkˈstɔːrt/

  • how short sighted politicians are vs visionary

The new flashpoint b/w china and the philippines

  • flashpoint, border dispute, maritime/ˈmærɪtaɪm/ dispute
  • vessel collisions
  • allegations/ˌæləˈɡeɪʃn/ of armed threat
  • nautical/ˈnɔːtɪkl/ mile
  • aggressive manoeuvres/məˈnuvɚ/
  • conducting a humanitarian/hjuːˌmænɪˈteriən/ mission
  • groundless accusation/ˌækjuˈzeɪʃn/
  • grounded ship 搁浅

US, Chinese officials discuss Biden-Xi talks as American elections loom large over relations

  • loom large over: idiom, something is of significant concern or importance
  • stabilizing communication
  • adviser, think tank 智库
  • For both sides, they have no strong motivation to push aggressively, because of the election, both are in a wait and see mode
  • Harris is expected to maintain a level of continuity with Biden’s China policy
  • Republican candidate Donald Trump had a combative and mercurial/mɝ’kjʊrɪəl/ relationship with China as president and has threatened to broadly expand American tariffs on Chinese imports if re-elected
  • China eastern theater command 战区
  • US could escort/ˈeskɔːrt/ Philippine ships through the South China Sea
  • introductory remarks 开场白
  • correct its strategic understanding of China, return to a rational and pragmatic/præɡˈmætɪk/ policy toward China, respect China’s core interests
  • call on: diplomatic way of expressing a formal appeal or request.
  • protectionism 保护主义
  • high-tech that could have dual-use/ˈduːəl/ civilian and military purposes.

IBM retreats from China

  • western firms start to retreat/withdraw from china
  • the geopolitical tension b/w bj and washington prompts
  • relations b/w the US and China have deteriorated/dɪˈtɪriəreɪt/ over technologies like xxx
  • IBM is cutting more than 1000 jobs in china

Top Ukrainian pilot killed when US-made F-16 fighter jet crashed

  • long-awaited planes arrived in the country
  • The crash is being investigated and international experts will be invited to participate in the probe
  • anti-aircraft missile
  • The jets are multi-role: they can provide air cover for troops, attack ground targets, take on enemy planes and intercept missiles.
  • the jets are no silver bullet

Musk 's X banned in Brazil after disinformation row

  • the “row” in title refers to refers to disputes or arguments.
  • allegedly/ə’ledʒidli/ spreading disinformation: false information that is intended to mislead
  • Free speech is the bedrock of democracy
  • we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents
  • Starlink is a subsidiary/səbˈsɪdieri/ of Mr Musk’s rocket firm SpaceX
  • coup/kuː/ 政变, color revolution

Black market weed operations

  • A marijuana/ˌmærəˈwɑːnə/ (also is called weed informally) grow room inside a residential home
  • weed 杂草, weed/wiːd/ garden 除草
  • raid /ei/ 突袭，搜捕
  • the in-house plant can cause hourse fire and mold/moʊld/

Israeli protests for hostage death

  • Israeli/ɪzˈreli/ protesters demonstrate(举行示威游行(或集会)) over hostage/ha/ death
  • demonstrator 游行示威者 call for prime minister to reach a ceasefire/ˈsiːsfaɪər/
  • Jerusalem /dʒəˈrusələm/ 耶路撒冷

US seizes Maduro’s plane

  • US seizes 扣押 Venezuela/ˌvenˈzi weila/ President Maduro’s airplane/en/ in the Dominican/də’minikən/ Republic
  • Venezuelan /lan/
  • illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Maduro and his cronies /'kroni/: a close friend or companion
  • it was illegally exported in April 2023 from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean/ˌkærəˈbiən/
  • it has notified Venezuela of the seizure /'siʒɚ/
  • One of the next steps, upon arriving to the US, will be pursuing forfeiture/ˈfɔːrfɪtʃər/: the loss or giving up of something as a penalty for wrongdoing
  • Poor economic conditions, food shortages and limited access to health care have pushed more than 7.7 million people to flee Venezuela, marking the largest displacement in the Western Hemisphere.

Volkswagen could close plants in Germany

  • Volkswagen could close plants in Germany for the first time in history
  • Other measures to future-proof the company include trying to terminate an employment protection agreement with labor unions, which has been in place since 1994.
  • Germany in particular as a manufacturing location is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness竞争能力.
  • In the first half of the year, deliveries to customers in that country slipped 7% on the same period in 2023. Group operating profit tumbled/ˈtʌmbl/(fall suddenly) 11.4% to €10.1 billion ($11.2 billion).

China is winning, now what

  • hostile/ˈhɑːstl/ foreign power
  • they did not anticipate, in such a short time, China would efficiently urbanize hundreds of millions of citizens who had been previously living in impoverished/ɪm’pɑvərɪʃt/ conditions.
  • upper-middle-income country 中上收入国家
  • a clear plan to effect the deindustrialization of its rivals
  • Yesteryear is a nostalgic/nə’stældʒɪk/ term for the distant past, not tied to a specific year. 昔日，以前
  • onshore manufacturer 本土制造商
  • we must choose soon, because the crisis is well underway and our window for addressing it is closing rapidly
  • This is no idle remark 空谈
  • Deng Xiaopeng’s famous South­ern Tour
  • China has modernized without liberalizing/'lɪbrəlaɪz/
  • the hundreds of millions of workers in advanced countries who will find themselves in gig and service jobs(short-term jobs, not stable) that are insufficiently productive to support a first-world lifestyle.
  • the efficient use of corporate capital企业资本 distinguished good managers from mediocre(not very good) ones
  • Wall Street’s ideal company became one with no assets and infinitely scalable profits. Great American companies in manufacturing-based, capital-intensive industries, like shipbuilding or steelmaking, were encouraged and finally forced to outsource their manufacturing overseas—not to save on labor costs or improve their output, but simply because outsourcing manufacturing to a foreign third party made their balance sheets look more impressive. If they were unable to offshore, they abandoned product categories altogether, which means the United States entirely lost those industries and capabilities.
  • For over thirty years, the PRC has consistently taken the other side of this bet/e/. The PRC evidently(formal with facts) believes that hard assets and manufacturing capabilities are good to own, not only for their immediate economic returns but because they bring many valuable intangibles and synergies with them: a highly skilled industrial workforce, faster prototyping cycles, and mastery of supply chains. Thirty years on, can anyone really argue that the PRC bet wrong?
  • Pearl River Delta 珠三角
  • it deliberately avoided shock therapy: refers to a rapid and often drastic shift from a centrally planned economy (like those in communist or socialist countries) to a free-market economy
  • the silly stereotypes about Chinese
  • industrial policy usually begins with land reform

Formoer aide charged with acting as Chinese govt agent

  • A former aide/ei/: assistant of political leader
  • Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government
  • She was charged with money laundering conspiracy/kənˈspɪrəsi/: unlawful secret plan
  • kickback/'kɪkbæk/ 回扣
  • prosecutor/'prɑsɪ’kjʊtɚ/ 原告, 检举人;告发人, defendant 原告
  • bond 保释金 for bail /beɪl/ 保释
  • It was a betrayal/bɪˈtreɪəl/ of trust

kishore mahbubani interview

  • paradoxical/ˌpærəˈdɑːksɪkl/ answer
  • he can go to either extreme
  • is the goal to overthrow/ˌoʊvərˈθroʊ/ the CCP
  • isolate or contain china, it cannot be done
  • president Joe biden in passing mention that china aims to become No.1 and he said it ain’t/ent/ gonna happen on my watch: briefly and casually 顺便提及
  • do chinese have ground strategy in dealing with the US? 大战略
  • I think out of necessity they have to have strategy
  • the manufacturing capacity of China is now indispensable to the rest of the world
  • so far ahead 遥遥领先
  • I provide lots of empirical/ɪmˈpɪrɪkl/ data 经验数据
  • he was an outsider 局外人

are we paid shills for china

  • propaganda shill /ʃɪl/: bought by someone for cheating
  • emotionally and spiritually very rewarding this travel
  • we film everything from start, from the moment we arrived at the airport all the way to the accommodation, we check in and go out and meet people
  • backwards country: having made less than normal progress
  • the capital city is falling apart there’s homeless people literally all over the street
  • we have been getting a lot of hilarious/hɪˈleriəs/ comments from mindless robots who think we have been somehow bought or told to do things.
  • ignore the trolls, uneducated comments

former CIA spied for china sentenced to a decide in prison

  • A former CIA officer arrested for espionage/ˈespiənɑːʒ/ has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for conspiring to provide classified information to Chinese intelligence officials
  • plea agreement 认罪协议

Kopi Time E118: China’s NPC, trade/tech war, deflation, policy

  • NPC: National/ae/ People’s Congress of China
  • what do you make of them: asking someone for their opinion or interpretation of something or someone
  • fiscal/ˈfɪskl/ deficit/ˈdefɪsɪt/, vs defect/ˈdiːfekt/
  • a lot of local govt are not inclined to borrow because they actually have debt problem
  • it would actually imply that a lot more stimulus would have to take place
  • you talked a lot about move away from investment-driven to consumption driven growth model
  • we need to move to high quality growth by means of the market: through
  • balance sheet 资产负债表
  • I would hesitate to say … 毫不犹豫地说
  • green investiment in China
  • I find an opportunity that can be used to sort of substitute a good stimulus and it’s buy and large good investment that are going to be productive: 大体上，总的来说
  • if there is going to be a trump 2.0 but before that independent of who will be the president of US in early 2025

Kopi Time 107 - Kishore Asian century vs American century

  • unfortunately my nightmare might come true
  • democrat/ˈdeməkræt/ vs republican
  • carrying on ad-hoc action after ad-hoc action without have clear strategy
  • the idea to stop china from becoming a scientific power is absurd/əbˈsɜːrd/
  • the damage will be done no question but that may be just a manifestation /ˌmænɪfeˈsteɪʃn/ of slowing down as opposed to stopping them forever
  • the determination of chinese people, national determination
  • I’ve seen people draw parallels between US restrictions on Sovit and China: compare two different things, situations, or ideas and identify similarities between them.
  • sputnik/'spʌtnɪk/ moment, historical analogy
  • using the old playbook againt the soviet union on China, get dead wrong.
  • it is just a sideshow, not the real contest
  • at least on climate change Europe, U.S and China would sit on the same table and make tangible/ˈtændʒəbl/ progress
  • anti-china/'æntaɪ/ consensus is ferocious/fəˈroʊʃəs/, fierce/fɪrs/
  • Asean/'ɑ:si:ɔn/: Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
  • the idea to contain china is a mission impossible
  • promote/promotion vs prompt
  • Asean is a inherently weak organization but it keeps stumbling through /ˈstʌmblɪŋ/ and moving forward 磕磕绊绊
  • democracy vs autocracy/ɔːˈtɑːkrəsi/: dictator
  • 21 century it is a multi-civilizational, multi-polar/ˈpoʊlər/ world
  • Brics 金砖四国 + other members vs G7
  • singaporean/ˌsiŋɡə’pɔ:riən/ identity today is stronger than the ethnic/ˈeθnɪk/ identity
  • for information only and does not represent any trade recommendations

Kopi Time E108: Chris Miller on Chip war

  • are you overstating it? exaggerate/ɪɡˈzædʒəreɪt/ vs exacerbate/ɪɡˈzæsərbeɪt/ and deteriorate/dɪˈtɪriəreɪt/
  • every major military is thinking harder than ever about its access to semiconductors
  • I really like the way you portray/pɔːrˈtreɪ/ it: depict or describe
  • I take it that you don’t believe xxxx: understand or accept as valid, eg I take your point
  • self-sufficient / self-contained vs self-service: needing no outside help in satisfying one’s basic needs
  • so the implication of this could be rather(certain or significant extent or degree) dire for china’s medium term outlook but for the time being they can produce some chips: for the present
  • would the state of the sanctions remain where they are or the net is about to get tighter
  • the computing power is pretty decisive
  • cyber war, cyber offense/defense
  • just give me a sense, just give me a sense of how it works
  • pirate/ˈpaɪrət/ software

Kopi Time E114: US markets with Dr. Komal Sri-Kumar

  • I cannot say anything with respect to rate, with respect to credits: the same as with regard to(wrt), or word “per”
  • how do we reconcile say market structure, buy side interest as well as xx: cause to coexist in harmony
  • the question is very timely: done or occurring at a favorable or useful time
  • the recession is delayed but not denied
  • the regulators are telling the banks not to make so many quote-unquote risky loans: word or phrase following it is being used ironically, here the speaker has the skepticism on “risky”
  • if necessary the fed will step in: involved in difficuly case for help
  • very informative and insightful as always

Kopi Time E119 - Angela Mancini on Geopolitics and Business Risks

  • I think you are really hitting the nail/neɪl/ on the head 一针见血
  • lack of policy continuity/ˌkɑːntɪˈnuːəti/
  • as time goes by so maybe we need to pick up the conversation later
  • a heavy reliance on xxx
  • there’s been a derisking out of China for years for cost reason even before the tensions: vs adj intense: the job demands intense concentration
  • I think it’s going to be some twists and turns along the way
  • great to be here and looking forward to picking up the conversation again down the road: in the future, or literally: There’s a gas station down the road.
  • by all means: of course; certainly

Kopi time 126 Gen AI

  • it is so prohibitively costly to build and run these AI models.
  • we have this longstanding sort of comical/'kɑmɪkl/ observation that technology is everywhere except in productivity that from the 1970s onward we’ve had a bit of a downshift in productivity few times and there perhaps around the dawn/dɔːn/ of the internet age we saw some pick up in productivity but by and large in the industrial World productivity has been disappointing and one argument among many arguments is that we have sort of exhausted the low harvesting fruits and now any tangible Innovation is very costly, does it have to be like that?

Kopi Time E129: James Crabtree on the geopolitics of elections

  • 4 years has come a long way; 4年已经走过了很长的路; the software has come a long way: achievement
  • there is no shortage of political dramas
  • actions taken without deliberate thought: instinctive: natural responses or habitual behavior; spontaneous: Actions occur suddenly and without planning, driven by impulse or immediate emotion; intuitive: Thoughts or actions based on a deep, often subconscious understanding or insight, often without explicit reasoning.
  • Fingers crossed: is an expression and gesture used to wish for good luck or to hope that something will turn out well. When someone says, “Fingers crossed,” they are expressing a hope that a particular outcome will occur.

ICBM launch in decades towards Pacific ocean

  • intercontinental/ˌɪntɚ,kɑntɪ’nɛntl/ ballistic/bə’lɪstɪk/ missile
  • dummy nuclear warhead
  • The missile fell into a designated area in the high seas of pacific ocean
  • PLA rocket force
  • state news xinhua
  • inland sea Bohai
  • The provocative/pro,va ke/ drill/exercise 挑衅的
  • There’s a long-standing global norm of notifying countries when certain long-range ballistic missiles are launched to prevent the risk of miscalculation
  • hundreds of silos/'saɪ lo/ for ICBM in desert

Conflict b/w Israel and Hezbollah

  • Hezbollah/'hezbə’lɑ:/ （黎巴嫩）真主党 is a military/armed group, Iran-backed group
  • ceasesfire/ˈsiːsfaɪər/ proposal
  • people are displaced by recent conflicts: force (someone) to leave their home by war
  • it was a done deal 已成定局
  • United Nations(UN) General Assembly
  • history has a warning
  • vowed/vaʊ/ to continue fighting Israel in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
  • Israel begins ground incursion in southern Lebanon: limited scale, short term operation, vs invasion: large scale, intent of control
  • UAE(United Arab Emirates)calls for de-escalation

Vow to reunification

  • at state banquet/ˈbæŋkwɪt/ celebrating the founding of PRC
  • Great Hall of the People
  • separatist /'sɛprətɪst/
  • Lai’s inauguration /ɪnˌɔɡuˈreʃən/

John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs

  • I am fully in favor of containing China
  • we have bogged down in middle east 深陷
  • it is difficult for us to pivot to Asia to deal with China which is the principle threat we face
  • regional hegemon: imperial/ɪmˈpɪriəl/ Germany, imperial Japan, Nazi Germany, Sovit Union
  • thousands of illegal settlers/'sɛtlɚ/ 定居点 in the west bank are dead set against the international law.

Joint-sword B

  • In August 2022, China launched a week of military drills following a visit to the island by then-US 当时的 House Speaker 众议院长 Nancy Pelosi.
  • mobile missile launchers
  • sovereign /ˈsɑːvrɪn/ country: 独立自主的, self-governing democracy
  • gray zone/area: ambiguous, unclear, or falls between clearly defined categories, existing between extremes like legal and illegal, right and wrong, war and peace

Argentina’s U-turn on relation with China

  • Argentina/ˌɑ:dʒən’ti:nə/ Argentine/'ɑrdʒən,tan/, Buenos Aires 布宜诺斯 艾利斯
  • Latin/ˈlæ ten/ America
  • television interview
  • “positively surprised by China” - a stark contrast to his earlier rhetoric/ˈretərɪk/, in which he referred to China as an “assassin”/ə’sæsn/ state while vowing to prioritise relations with Western allies: the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing
  • industrial hub 工业中心
  • preferential/e/ policies 优惠政策
  • Argentina holds 21 percent of the world’s known lithium /'lɪθɪəm/ deposits: a layer or body of accumulated matter

Russia BRICS summit

  • Moscow/gao/
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