Chinese state media yesterday dangled the threat of cutting exports of rare earths to the US as a counterstrike in the trade dispute, potentially depriving Washington of a key resource used to make everything from smartphones to military hardware.
The warning is the latest salvo in a dispute that has intensified since US President Donald Trump ramped up tariffs against China and moved to blacklist Huawei Technologies Co (華為) earlier this month, while trade talks have apparently stalled.
Beijing had already dropped a big hint that rare earths could be in the firing line by showing images last week of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) visiting a rare earths factory in Ganzhou.
State media yesterday made it clearer.
“Will rare earths become China’s counterweapon against the unprovoked suppression of the US? The answer is not mysterious,” the People’s Daily said. “We advise the US not to underestimate China’s ability to safeguard its own development rights and interests, and not to say we didn’t warn you.”
The Global Times in an editorial said that the “US will rue forcing China’s hand on rare earths.”
“It is believed that if the US increasingly suppresses the development of China, sooner or later China will use rare earths as a weapon,” it said.
China produces more than 95 percent of the world’s rare earths and the US relies on China for upwards of 80 percent of its imports.
The Global Times said that banning rare-earth exports to the US could “produce complex effects, including incurring certain losses on China itself.”
“China also clearly knows that the US would suffer greater losses in that situation,” it added.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
RSS