Today’s Focus: The U.S. Department of Commerce Strengthens Technology Control, Global Ban on Huawei Ascend Chips Lifted; Sanctions Removed! U.S. Lays Out Four Conditions for Syria; Marriage Rate Hits Historic Low in Mainland China, Yet Dogs Celebrate Weddings with Joyous Feasts.
The U.S. government issued an executive order to further curb CCP chips. On May 13th, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued guidance stating that the use of Huawei Ascend artificial intelligence chips “anywhere in the world” violates U.S. policy.
Furthermore, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) warned the public in a statement that using “U.S. chips to train Chinese AI models” could have potential consequences.
To put it simply, BIS believes that Huawei’s three Ascend chips, 910B, 910C, 910D, likely utilize U.S. technology or software, or are produced using equipment containing U.S. technology, or both. Therefore, regardless of where these chips are used, whether in China, Southeast Asia, or Europe, they should be subject to U.S. regulatory sanctions.
You may not be familiar with these three Huawei chips, so let’s briefly introduce them:
In 2019, Huawei released the Ascend 910 chip, manufactured by TSMC. In 2020, after the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added Huawei to the Entity List, TSMC ceased producing chips for Huawei.
In 2022, Huawei introduced the second-generation Ascend 910B chip, manufactured by SMIC. Huawei claimed that this chip can rival NVIDIA’s A100.
In 2024, Huawei launched the Ascend 910C, claiming that this chip can match NVIDIA’s H100. However, a report published by Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) analyzed the Huawei Ascend 910 series chips in detail and concluded that the gap between them and NVIDIA is substantial.
The report indicates that although Huawei made efforts to develop chips, overall progress of the Ascend 910 series has been slow. Additionally, the yield and cost efficiency of SMIC is not high. This means that the cost of this series of chips is high.
In addition to Huawei chips, the U.S. Department of Commerce also announced the formal withdrawal of the Biden administration’s “AI Expansion Rule” and concurrently introduced multiple measures to enhance export controls on global semiconductors, especially AI chips.
Why withdraw this rule? The Commerce Department explained that the original rule was too complex, with high compliance costs, burdening businesses. Moreover, the rule downgraded many friendly countries, potentially harming diplomatic relations with these countries.
The new approach announced by the U.S. government is to abandon blanket policies and turn to one-on-one negotiations with trustworthy countries to establish bilateral agreements for chip exports.
This marks a shift in the Trump administration’s AI strategy, emphasizing “flexibility” and “cooperation” with allies while remaining tough on the CCP.
In addition to prohibiting the global use of Huawei Ascend chips, the new guidance also includes warnings for businesses and the public not to use “Chinese models trained with AI chips produced in the United States” and instructs companies to strengthen supply chain security to prevent chips from being rerouted to the CCP through third countries.
Besides, the U.S. has completely banned NVIDIA from exporting the H20 chip designed specifically for the Chinese market to the CCP, meaning NVIDIA will lose $5.5 billion in orders.
In fact, Biden’s “AI Expansion Rule” is an extension of the CCP technology blockade policy. To prevent the CCP from bypassing U.S. technology restrictions through third countries, the scope of this rule expanded to over 40 countries in 2023, including the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Of course, this policy has sparked dissatisfaction among many friendly nations, particularly emerging AI investment countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and Malaysia. These countries oppose being classified as “second or third-tier countries,” limiting their access to U.S. AI chips.
After his return to the White House, Trump appointed David Sacks as the White House Director of AI and Digital Assets, leading relevant policies to promote the U.S.’ return to a path of technological openness and international cooperation.
Recently, Sacks accompanied Trump on a visit to Gulf countries, where he stated at an investment forum, “The United States should not restrict allies’ access to chips.” He mentioned that the Trump administration will adopt a more open export policy, allowing strategic partners such as Saudi Arabia to expand AI chip cooperation to counter the CCP’s global AI strategic influence.
The policy adjustment by the Trump administration signifies a new phase in U.S. AI and semiconductor strategy. In the current intertwined landscape of global technological development and geopolitics, achieving a balance between promoting innovation and safeguarding national security will be a key indicator of the success of future policies.
On May 14th, President Trump met with the interim President of Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, marking the first official meeting between U.S. and Syrian leaders since 2000. This move is seen as a potential turning point in the Middle East situation.
Before the meeting, the U.S. suddenly announced the lifting of all sanctions on Syria. Trump stated that this action aimed to give Syria an opportunity to “move towards peace and reconstruction” and mentioned that the decision was made after discussions with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Following the news of the sanctions being lifted, Syria celebrated nationwide. The Syrian Foreign Ministry later released a statement, describing Trump’s announcement as a “key turning point for the Syrian people to move out of the long and painful chapter of war.”
The statement emphasized that the past sanctions were aimed at the war crimes committed by the former Assad regime against the people, not the new interim government. The Syrian side stated that this measure provides Syria with an important opportunity to pursue stability, self-sufficiency, and a “reconstruction led by the people.”
The White House stated that during the meeting between the U.S. and Syrian leaders, President Trump personally urged the new Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa to do four things.
Firstly, diplomatically recognize Israel. Israel is a longstanding adversary of Syria, and the U.S. hopes that Israel and Syria can normalize relations.
Secondly, Trump hopes Sharaa will “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria.”
Thirdly, the new Syrian government should help the U.S. prevent any resurgence of the “Islamic State” organization.
Lastly, the Syrian government should take responsibility for managing the over 9,000 suspected ISIS members in a dozen detention centers.
These prisons are managed by U.S.-supported, Kurdish-led armed forces. In April, they agreed that by the end of 2025, all border crossings, airports, and oil fields adjacent to Iraq and Turkey will come under the control of the Syrian central government.
Trump hopes the new Syrian government will take over these prisons, which may also signal a complete U.S. withdrawal from Syria.
The White House mentioned that Trump also urged Syria to join the three countries of the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco in integrating into the Middle East region. These three countries restored normal relations with Israel in 2020 based on the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords.
The White House further stated that during the talks, Trump told Sharaa: “I told him, ‘I hope you will join after things are settled.’ He said, ‘Okay.’ But they have a lot of work to do.”
After the meeting, Trump praised the meeting with Sharaa as “great.” He described Sharaa as a young, charming man with a brilliant past.
In recent days, a video of two dogs holding a wedding in Shanghai has gone viral on mainland Chinese social media. It’s reported that this was a real wedding and not staged.
According to mainland media reports, the starring couple of the wedding were two giant poodles, dressed in formal attire, arranged by their owners to have a grand wedding. The whole event was well-prepared, with all the wedding elements including wedding ceremony, cars, and engagement documents. Even what people commonly refer to as the “Four Kings” – the wedding officiant, makeup artist, photographer, and videographer were not missed.
Furthermore, the wedding invited 30 same breed giant poodles and their owners to witness the dogs’ marriage.
To make the dogs look more remarkable, the owners hired a professional stylist for the dogs.
Mr. Xu, the stylist, mentioned he is a pet groomer and usually styles them. The grooming fee for the dogs for this wedding was over 1,000 Chinese yuan each. He added that though he often works with pets, it was his first time attending a pet wedding.
Mr. Xu introduced that the two dogs just reached adulthood, and their owners initially only planned a birthday party. However, wanting to make it more fun, they decided to hold a wedding. The ceremony and venue arrangement were similar to a human wedding, and the dogs even exchanged engagement tokens, “collars.” He mentioned the wedding was held at a pet-friendly resort destination, with balloons and display boards, creating a warm atmosphere.
One netizen who posted the video of the dog wedding online and captioned it with “Thanks for the invitation, first time attending a dog wedding in my life,” sparked significant attention on the internet.
Renowned blogger with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, “Master Mei,” expressed being greatly impressed by the dog wedding video, saying it challenged their beliefs.
“Master Mei” mentioned that in the context of declining marriage rates among young people, the dogs’ solemn marriage seems to be a contradiction, evoking mixed feelings.
Official data for the first quarter of 2025 shows that the total number of registered marriages in China was 1.81 million couples, a decrease of 159,000 couples compared to the same period last year. If this trend continues, China’s marriage quantity will hit a historic low this year.
To address the continuous decline in marriage rates, Chinese authorities at all levels have been introducing various subsidy policies in recent years, all failing to yield results.
To encourage young people’s willingness to marry, Beijing authorities recently announced new regulations to simplify the marriage registration procedure effective from May 10th.
“Master Mei” remarked that it’s understandable why young people are hesitant to marry. After all, there is significant work pressure nowadays, with many young individuals feeling exhausted physically and mentally after a day’s work, having no spare energy for romance. Moreover, marriage involves dealing with two large families and considering having children, adding to the challenges they face.
“Master Mei” joked that while a dog wedding is not illegal, it does contribute to “boosting consumption.” Whether it’s the venue, decorations, banquet, or the red envelopes given by guests, it all stimulates a wave of spending. But the entire scenario feels a bit “odd.”
Some netizens commenting on the video labeled it as “people are not as good as dogs,” while others cynically referred to it as a modern version of “High gates are smelly; the road has dead bones.”
However, some netizens analyzed that while it may seem like young people are indulging in fun with a dog wedding, treating dogs as children, the underlying reason might be young people’s helplessness towards reality. In psychology, there’s a concept called “substitute satisfaction,” where if people don’t find fulfillment in a certain relationship, they seek alternatives to make up for it. For instance, pets can offer stable emotional connections, companionship, and a sense of reliance. Dogs neither betray their owners nor judge them for being poor, making them the best companions.
Beyond pets, many young people nowadays enjoy watching relationships between others, known as “shipping.” This behavior is another manifestation of this psychological phenomenon. These young people perceive themselves as living “rationally” and avoid marriage and having children under pressure. But deep down, they yearn for love, family warmth, and children.
Regarding the dog wedding, while some may comment about the “differences between people and dogs” or use the phrase “high gates are smelly,” it reflects a typical social irony – expressing frustration and powerlessness toward reality through extreme comparisons.
— Production Team of “Good News Moments”