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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China throttles rare metal supply and claims South China Sea |
| 2010-08-01 |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #8 Here is a real problem. We see it in many commodities including oil, minerals, and rare earths where it takes a substantial amount of capital investment and time to build up production. A state with the power to coerce their citizens to work for less money than anyone else in the world, can drive out all competition for the commodity by driving the price down for years at a time. Then, with a monopoly created, they raise the price and capture monopoly profits for the time needed to build that infrastructure. As the old sources ramp up, bang, they drop the prices again and repeat the cycle. This is a situation that is ripe for an international anti-monopoly agreement enforced if necessary by collaborative tariffs to support the second or third least expensive source for that commodity. Unfortunately, without clarity of purpose this sort of approach could quickly lead to protectionist tariffs and squabbling about who deserves to be the supported second or third tier producer, rather than merely creating the environment necessary to avoid the creation of monopoly profits. Perhaps the benefit of super-cheap supplies about half the time from the monopolist has more utility than a smoother supply provided at higher prices by an oligopoly. Each situation is unique and the issues can be complex. |
| Posted by: rammer 2010-08-01 23:59 |
| #7 Now that's digression. |
| Posted by: KBK 2010-08-01 22:11 |
| #6 Tropic Islands, Islands everywhere yet no one has Bananas! D *** NG IT, WOMAN, FUTURE OWG PAULA "DELILAH/BATHSHEBA" ABDUL MAY BE A HOTTIE BUT NEVER ALLOW HER NEAR THE BACKYARD VEGGIES! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-08-01 21:12 |
| #5 ION CINA, WMF > CHINA INCREASINGLY VICTORIUS IN WAGING SUBTLE "LOCAL WAR UNDER HIGH CONDITIONS" USING SUFFICIENT/MINIMAL FORCE AGZ US GEOPOL INTERESTS IN ASIA-PACIFIC. CHINA'S "ANTI-ACCESS, LOCAL DENIAL" STRATEGY + ROUTINE METHODS WILL FORCE THE US TO CHOOSE BETWEEN STRATEGIC RETREAT, VERSUS "MUTUALLY DESTRUCTIVE" NUCLEAR WAR AGZ CHINA. THE TOP CHIN PARTY-MIL LEADERSHIP BELIEVES ITS STRATEGIES WILL CAUSE THE US TO WITHDRAW OR PULLBACK FROM THE WESTERN PACIFIC TOWARDS HAWAII + US WEST COAST. * SAME > FOREIGN MINSTER WU WU LIANG DEMANDS THAT JAPAN RETURN OKINAWA [Ryukyus Islands] TO CHINA UNDER THE TERMS OF THE WW2 "CAIRO DECLARATION", IN RESPONSE TO THE COMMENTS BY JAPAN'S AMBASSADOR THAT TAIWAN WAS NEVER FORMALLY OR HISTORICALLY RECOGNIZED BY TOKYO AS BEING CHINESE TERRITORY. FM LIANG ALSO DEMANDS THAT THE CPLAN'S EAST CHINA SEA FLEET SEND ANOTHER FORCE OF ARMED WARSHIPS TO SAIL THROUGH OKINAWA + TO PREPARE TO USE MILITARY FORCE [PLA Ground Troops] TO SEIZE THE DAOYUS FROM JAPAN. * SAME > THE ILLEGAL ANNEXATION IN 1879 OF THE RYUKYU VASSAL KINGDOM BY JAPAN ALSO INCLUDED THE ILLEGAL SEIZURE BY JAPAN OF THE RYUKYU-CONTROLLED MIYAKO, ISHIGAKI, YAEYAMA + OTHER ISLANDS. * SAME > CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY: TAIWAN'S INTERIOR MINISTER JIANG YI HUA DECLARES UNILATERAL TAIWANESE SOVEREIGNTY + DOMINION OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEAS IRREGARDLESS OF THE CLAIMS OF CHINA + OTHER REGIONAL NATIONS. ARTIC = IOW, its JUNE 6th, 1944 NORMANDY + TAIWAN is the chaotic, embattled "OMAHA BEACH" dividing the Amers at UTAH BEACH + BRITS-CANADIANS at GOLD-SWORD-JUNO BEACHES as agz the German forces in France. SUB-IOW, TAIWAN > keeping PLAN from forming a UNITED MIL FRONT between the NORTH CHINA SEA/NE ASIA + SOUTH CHINA SEAS/SE + SOUTH ASIA. * SAME > US EXCLAIMED: US SCHOLARS CLAIM THAT THE SINO-US MIL, GEOPOL STRUGGLE IN ASIA-PACIFIC MAY CAUSE THE US TO BECOME THE "NEW USSR/SOVIET UNION". The OWG Mighty USSA versus the OWG Weak United Socialist Republiks of Amerika SSR [NORAM = becomes NORAK = NORTH AMERIKA?] Soviet Global Republik. D *** NG IT, CLEARLY NO "9-11 + WOT > WAR FOR OWG-NWO", COMMIE + SOCIALIST WORLD ORDER, HERE. Yep, Yessirree, You Betcha Boy... But I digress .... |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-08-01 21:08 |
| #4 "OUTSOURCING strikes again!" So what is the problem? |
| Posted by: Phosing Big Foot3926 2010-08-01 20:46 |
| #3 Its not just MONGOLIA [read, RUSSIA] anymore??? FYI CHIN MIL FORUMS > POSTERS = have opined that Beijing should consider building PLA-dominated ARTIFICAL ISLANDS + ARMED STATIONS, crammed full of various MILSYS on shallow reefs, minor islets in the SCS near VIETNAM, PHILIPPINES + INDONESIA. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2010-08-01 18:43 |
| #2 Rare metals are not in fact very rare. Large amounts exist in the US, Canada, Australia,, South Africa, Russia, Sweden, Vietnam, and above all Greenland with a third of the world's known reserves. What is rare is to find them in viable concentrations. The metalurgy is complex. The frequent presence of radioactive Thorium complicates matters. Extraction is capital intensive. So instead of spending capital on extraction of rare earth metals outside of China, shovel it into the pockets of financial CEOs. This makes sense in some alternate universe. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-08-01 17:11 |
| #1 Somewhere far into the article is this telling chunk: The GAO report said the US had been self-sufficient in rare earth minerals for most of the post-War era. The key mine at Mountain Pass in California shut down in the 1990s when China flooded the market with exports and drove Western mines out of business. One by one, US-based processing plants owned by German and Japanese firms switched operations to China. There are none left. OUTSOURCING strikes again! |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-08-01 17:08 |