China just flipped the chessboard. ♟️

9 comments

1. Starting Dec 1, Beijing will tighten exports of rare earths and lithium battery materials the lifeblood of tech, EVs, and defense industries.

   The West still depends heavily on China for these resources.

   This isn’t a trade tweak, it’s economic power play disguised as regulation.

   Is this the start of a new resource cold war or just the next move in a long game of control?

2. I don’t see China backing down on this. 

3. The west is basically caught off guard tbh. It was naive to expect that China will just take part in this current world order and join the western market but not take over. With these moves and the other illegal subsidies, force IP transfer etc, China basically violated most of the rules and promises when joining the WTO. It is too late to even kick it out of the WTO now, its industries are already too dominating and hold the world hostage.

   “China” in Chinese means the country at the center or the most important. They have reiterated numerous times domestically to resume that historical status. Externally it emphases “a force of peace”, “anti imperialism” and people just believed it. Like a bunch of sheep dealing with a wolf, completely outmaneuvered.

   The future will be a CCP centric, authoritarian world based on collusion and flattery. You want to trade with favourable terms or just fair? You need to agree and adopt their values and systems, or provide tribute, just like how it was in the ancient time. Japan, Korea and southeast countries have been doing that for centuries in the ancient times. The only hope right now is the US somehow reforms and catches back up, but it is not looking good.

4. No mention of the U.S. tightening on chips?

5. China is just finally figuring out what the US has been doing for years.

6. He is so dumb.  Its crazy.

7. > The U.S. will likely eventually be able to get out from under China’s chokehold on rare earths, says Geoffrey Gertz, senior fellow with the Energy, Economics, and Security Program at the Center for a New American Security and a former director for international economics at the White House under President Biden. The playbook is clear, though it will take time, Gertz says.

   This is a tough pill for probably 5 years but hopefully this will be the kick in the ass the west needs to fully cut off anything it needs from China. Better now than in the next world war. The US moves a lot faster than Europe on items like this. Luckily, rare earths aren’t rare but the US and west do need to be fully independent.

   This is a good reminder that if you give China anything it will hold it over your head.

8. The US has rare earths. Get ready for a mining surge.

   We’ve given fair trade with China a chance and funded their entire “modernization.” It didn’t work, and it’s time to cut ties. We don’t need their mass (cheap) manufacturing.

9. If this isn’t the sign of a full cold war I don’t know what is. No trade, no concessions; it’s pedal to the metal cold war until one side collapses. That is, if it doesn’t end in a hot war.

   I hate to see things go down this path, but only time will tell who comes out on top.

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