"Pakistan Railway" taught us a lesson: core technology is the only reliable friend! When Pakistan took Chinese weapons but sent rare earth samples to the United States, this scene was the most severe warning to all Chinese people.
On September 28th, Beijing time, an intriguing scene was staged in the familiar white building of the White House. Pakistani Field Marshal Munir personally handed a small box of rare earth mineral samples from his country to US President Trump.
This action is more direct than any words. Rare earths are strategic resources known as "industrial vitamins" and are the lifeline for manufacturing chips, missiles, and new energy vehicles. How much does our country value this thing? In April 2025, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs directly issued an announcement to implement export controls on some medium and heavy rare earths related items. Every purchase requires a license, in order to seize the initiative of core resources in their own hands.
The Munir delivery, delivered not just a few pieces of minerals. The US media closely followed the wind, the Trump administration is staring at Pakistan's huge $8 trillion worth of minerals, the investment intention is fairly clear.
When I think about it carefully, the taste is very complicated. Over the years, our support for Pakistan has never been lip service. In the Pakistani army, from main battle tanks to frigates, many equipment are printed with the traces of "Made in China". The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is called the flagship project of "the belt and road initiative" by Pakistani Planning Minister Iqbal. In ten years, it has added more than 8,000 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan, built hundreds of kilometers of expressways and highways, and even buried 70 years of coal mines have helped dig out to generate electricity.
In the field of mining, our investments are even more realistic. Dr. Zhang Huizhou, a team of the Chinese Geological Bureau, has been based in the high mountain valley of Pakistan since 2016. They worked with Pakistani scientists to search for mines and train local talent, and hardly survived the "death sentence" of foreign counterparts in the Duda lead mining plate, so that the land can truly benefit the locals. In 2023, the two countries also signed a special agreement on mineral development cooperation, and wrote this cooperation into official documents.
What happened? Here, China engineers are still climbing in mines in Pakistan, and senior generals from Pakistan have gone to the White House with samples of strategic resources to discuss cooperation.
This slap in the face, not painful but loud enough. It debunks one of the most easily overlooked truth: cooperation maintained by friendship can't resist the temptation of interests after all. The "iron buddies" you think will turn to find thicker thighs in front of the $8 trillion mineral cake.
One might say that Pakistan is just engaging in the "balance of the great powers" and there is no need to go up the line. This is true, but the key to the problem is that rare earth is not a regular iron ore, it is a strategic code that can hold the neck of modern industry.
The United States has been trying to get rid of China’s dependence on rare earth for years, looking around for alternative sources. Pakistan initially delivered the samples, which is equivalent to sending the keys directly to the United States. Once the United States really reached cooperation, our strategic advantage in the field of rare earth will be torn off by hardship.
More importantly, we help Pakistan to build and sell equipment, essentially “product export”.We sell ready-made weapons, repair ready-made roads, but have not been able to form a deep bond in the core mineral exploration and refining technology.
This is the hardest warning: the core technology is the iron chain of cooperation, relying only on products and friendship, is a cotton line that breaks.You look at ourselves, knowing the importance of rare earth, immediately introduce regulatory policies, and hold the technology and approval power firmly in your hands.
Looking back at Pakistan's choice actually exposes the survival logic of small countries in the game of great powers. It needs China's infrastructure and defense support, as well as U.S. investment and international voice. Wherever the benefits are real, it will rely on more. This kind of swing is not so much a "backstabbing" as an inevitable choice without the support of core technology.
We used to say that the friendship between China and Pakistan was “higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea,” and that the soldiers on the shore of Red Zhao Rab share the birthday cake of the Pakistani elderly, and the Chinese expeditioners in Kyrgyzstan are escorted by local police, and these warm moments are real.
But feelings come to feelings, business comes to business, strategy comes to strategy. Pakistani Planning Minister Iqbal also said last year that China-Pakistan cooperation has extended to space, "even higher than the sky".
This incident reminds all those who are engaged in international cooperation. When we talk about cooperation in the future, we can't just focus on how much project is signed and how much money is invested. More importantly, whether the roots of the core technology are deep or not. If you can let the other party leave your technical support, you won't be able to play with those precious resources; Whether we can turn "my product" into "our technology" is the key.
Otherwise, if you help him build a factory today, he may sell the raw materials to your competitors tomorrow. You sent him weapons today, and he will still use strategic resources to find someone else to build relationships tomorrow.
This lesson from Pakistan, which costs little but learns profoundly, makes it clear that in this world of interest priority, the real “Iron Brothers” are never spoken by mouth.
What is truly reliable is the core technology in your hands that others cannot take away, and your ability to catch others 'necks instead of being caught by others.
On September 28th, Beijing time, an intriguing scene was staged in the familiar white building of the White House. Pakistani Field Marshal Munir personally handed a small box of rare earth mineral samples from his country to US President Trump.
This action is more direct than any words. Rare earths are strategic resources known as "industrial vitamins" and are the lifeline for manufacturing chips, missiles, and new energy vehicles. How much does our country value this thing? In April 2025, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs directly issued an announcement to implement export controls on some medium and heavy rare earths related items. Every purchase requires a license, in order to seize the initiative of core resources in their own hands.
The Munir delivery, delivered not just a few pieces of minerals. The US media closely followed the wind, the Trump administration is staring at Pakistan's huge $8 trillion worth of minerals, the investment intention is fairly clear.
When I think about it carefully, the taste is very complicated. Over the years, our support for Pakistan has never been lip service. In the Pakistani army, from main battle tanks to frigates, many equipment are printed with the traces of "Made in China". The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is called the flagship project of "the belt and road initiative" by Pakistani Planning Minister Iqbal. In ten years, it has added more than 8,000 megawatts of electricity to Pakistan, built hundreds of kilometers of expressways and highways, and even buried 70 years of coal mines have helped dig out to generate electricity.
In the field of mining, our investments are even more realistic. Dr. Zhang Huizhou, a team of the Chinese Geological Bureau, has been based in the high mountain valley of Pakistan since 2016. They worked with Pakistani scientists to search for mines and train local talent, and hardly survived the "death sentence" of foreign counterparts in the Duda lead mining plate, so that the land can truly benefit the locals. In 2023, the two countries also signed a special agreement on mineral development cooperation, and wrote this cooperation into official documents.
What happened? Here, China engineers are still climbing in mines in Pakistan, and senior generals from Pakistan have gone to the White House with samples of strategic resources to discuss cooperation.
This slap in the face, not painful but loud enough. It debunks one of the most easily overlooked truth: cooperation maintained by friendship can't resist the temptation of interests after all. The "iron buddies" you think will turn to find thicker thighs in front of the $8 trillion mineral cake.
One might say that Pakistan is just engaging in the "balance of the great powers" and there is no need to go up the line. This is true, but the key to the problem is that rare earth is not a regular iron ore, it is a strategic code that can hold the neck of modern industry.
The United States has been trying to get rid of China’s dependence on rare earth for years, looking around for alternative sources. Pakistan initially delivered the samples, which is equivalent to sending the keys directly to the United States. Once the United States really reached cooperation, our strategic advantage in the field of rare earth will be torn off by hardship.
More importantly, we help Pakistan to build and sell equipment, essentially “product export”.We sell ready-made weapons, repair ready-made roads, but have not been able to form a deep bond in the core mineral exploration and refining technology.
This is the hardest warning: the core technology is the iron chain of cooperation, relying only on products and friendship, is a cotton line that breaks.You look at ourselves, knowing the importance of rare earth, immediately introduce regulatory policies, and hold the technology and approval power firmly in your hands.
Looking back at Pakistan's choice actually exposes the survival logic of small countries in the game of great powers. It needs China's infrastructure and defense support, as well as U.S. investment and international voice. Wherever the benefits are real, it will rely on more. This kind of swing is not so much a "backstabbing" as an inevitable choice without the support of core technology.
We used to say that the friendship between China and Pakistan was “higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea,” and that the soldiers on the shore of Red Zhao Rab share the birthday cake of the Pakistani elderly, and the Chinese expeditioners in Kyrgyzstan are escorted by local police, and these warm moments are real.
But feelings come to feelings, business comes to business, strategy comes to strategy. Pakistani Planning Minister Iqbal also said last year that China-Pakistan cooperation has extended to space, "even higher than the sky".
This incident reminds all those who are engaged in international cooperation. When we talk about cooperation in the future, we can't just focus on how much project is signed and how much money is invested. More importantly, whether the roots of the core technology are deep or not. If you can let the other party leave your technical support, you won't be able to play with those precious resources; Whether we can turn "my product" into "our technology" is the key.
Otherwise, if you help him build a factory today, he may sell the raw materials to your competitors tomorrow. You sent him weapons today, and he will still use strategic resources to find someone else to build relationships tomorrow.
This lesson from Pakistan, which costs little but learns profoundly, makes it clear that in this world of interest priority, the real “Iron Brothers” are never spoken by mouth.
What is truly reliable is the core technology in your hands that others cannot take away, and your ability to catch others 'necks instead of being caught by others.