(5) Rare earths | Magnetic Attraction. Control of a crucial industry gives China power. Using it will be costly.
https://www.economist.com/china/ ... trade-war-at-a-cost
Quote after the first 2 paragraphs:
"Crucially, China has translated its control of the raw materials into dominance of the valuable next steps: turning oxides into metals and metals into products. To extend Mr Deng's comparison, it is as if the Middle Eastnot only sat on most of the world's oil but also, almost exclusively, refined it and then made products ouyt of it.
The most important of these [rare earth products] are specialised magnets for motors in electric vehicles, generators in wind turbines and missile-guidance systems. China produces more than 90% of world's output, according to Cituigroup, a bank. Even the Pentagon, through its suppliers, is a client.
"After the scare in 2010 [when China 'restricted rare-earth exports, in order, it said, to protect its environment' -- WTO years later ruled against China] Japan lent Money to Lynas, an Australian mining company with a refinery in Malaysia. Today, it can meet nearly a third of Japanese demand for rare earths. The Mountain Pass mine in California, which once supplied most of the world's rare earths but which shut in the early 2000s, has reopened. * * * China's share of of global rare-earth production fell from more than 95% in 2010 to 70% last year, and is likely to dip lower.
"America last year bought about $259m od rare-earth magnets from China, and there are no easy alternative sources. * * * The [magnets] are made to exact specifications. And, says Mr [Ryan] Castilloux[of Adamas Intelligence, a rare-earth consultancy], the industry is small enough for China to be able to spot any American attempts to skirt a Chinese ban by importing magnets through other countries. The Pentagon would probably able to cope. An industry joke has it that it can carry its annual supply of heavy rare earths (the kind used in its missiles) in a single suitcase. Businesses would find it harder.
"But it is far from certain that China will block exports to America. Doing so would also hurt Chinese companies, which are often the ones that build the motors an dbatteries for American customers using rare-earth magnets.* * *
Note: Regarding "its control of the raw materials" in the first quotation.
material (n): "(materials) things needed for an activity <view examples>"
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/material
|
发表于 6-25-2019 16:41:12
收藏
分享
支持
反对
楼主