BEIJING, May 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Washington’s trade war with Beijing puts it at risk of losing access to China-produced rare earths, which are critical to manufacturing, a commentary in state media said on Wednesday (May 29).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The commentary follows President Xi Jinping’s visit last week to a Chinese rare earths company –\u00a0a move widely read as a threat, after President Donald Trump banned US companies from providing technology to China’s Huawei over concerns the telecom giant’s equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump’s move against Huawei, a rapidly expanding leader in super-fast 5G wireless technology, came as part of a trade war that he began last year over what the US president calls China’s unfair trade policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, the two sides have exchanged tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of two-way trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the Huawei ban, Xi called on cadres to brace for a “new Long March”, and editorial commentaries have lambasted Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“While meeting domestic demands is a priority, China is willing to try its best to satisfy global demand for rare earths as long as they are used for legitimate purposes,” Wednesday’s commentary on state-run Xinhua news agency said.Advertisement<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“However, if anyone wants to use imported rare earths against China, the Chinese people will not agree.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During his visit to the rare earths company, Xi said that they are “not only an important strategic resource, but also a non-renewable resource,” Xinhua reported earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, analysts have said China appears apprehensive of targeting the minerals just yet, possibly fearful of hastening a global search for alternative supplies of the commodities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China produces more than 95 per cent of the world’s rare earths, and the United States relies on China for upwards of 80 per cent of its imports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rare earths are 17 elements critical to manufacturing everything from smartphones and televisions to cameras and light bulbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That gives Beijing tremendous leverage in what is shaping up largely as a battle between the US and China over who will own the future of high-tech.
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NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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BEIJING, May 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Washington’s trade war with Beijing puts it at risk of losing access to China-produced rare earths, which are critical to manufacturing, a commentary in state media said on Wednesday (May 29). The commentary follows President Xi Jinping’s visit last week to a Chinese rare earths company –\u00a0a move widely read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":9414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[297],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26608"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}