As soon as the rare earth card is played, the wind direction of the world changes. The more anxious the United States and the West are to react, the more it shows that China holds the real initiative. Faced with their containment, China did not panic, but laid out in advance. French Presidential Foreign Affairs Adviser Bona, Swedish Foreign Minister Stina Gard and Canadian Foreign Minister Anand will visit China one after another in the near future, and three special planes are ready. On the surface, these countries are members of the G7 system, but their respective economic interests are different. The core topics of their trip are mainly economy and trade, including practical issues such as China-Canada tariffs and rare earth supply. The reason why China can sit firmly on the Diaoyutai is precisely because it can see through: as long as the United States and the West are not treated as monolithic, the situation can find a breakthrough.
China's actions are not abrupt. The Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement to strengthen rare earth export control, which is fully in line with international practice and is also based on strategic security and industrial optimization considerations. The announcement makes it clear that the control is not discriminatory and provides a sufficient buffer period for relevant companies. Western public opinion hypes up the so-called "threat to the global supply chain", which is essentially distorting the facts and creating a tense atmosphere. China has not closed its doors, but has just adjusted the export gate to a more reasonable flow rate, which is what any responsible country would do.
But the political reaction from the West is as fierce as it has always been. On October 12, EU Trade Commissioner Shevchenko, before the EU Trade Ministers’ meeting, listed China’s rare-earth export controls as a “core concern” and mentioned the case of the previous approval of graphics exports “only through half,” rendering the situation tough. At the same time, the United States led the G7 video conference to coordinate the unified action of 29 countries. It seems that the battle is big, in fact more a gesture – each member is measuring their own interests, screaming in their mouths, but in their hearts each has a calculator. According to the observers’ network citing U.S. media reports, this is the latest coordination signal achieved within the EU and the United States.
The reason why their "concerns" seem hypocritical is that the entire logic has long been filled with "double standards". On the one hand, the United States has been abusing its long-arm jurisdiction for many years, uniting allies in aerospace, chips and other fields to block China, and also ordered ASML to refuse to sell advanced lithography machines, but glorified it as "national security"; on the other hand, when China strengthened export controls in accordance with the law, they immediately shouted "Threaten the global supply chain." The same double standards also appear in the new energy industry: when China exported photovoltaics and new energy vehicles on a large scale, they accused "overcapacity"; when China reduced rare earth exports, they changed their words to "disrupt the balance." They want to get benefits but are afraid that the other party will become bigger-this is their true mentality.
The reactions of the United States and Japan were not unexpected. After the announcement of the Ministry of Commerce of China was released, Trump immediately posted a post on social platforms, threatening to impose additional tariffs and impose export restrictions unless China lifted rare earth controls. Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya followed suit and expressed his "concern" and proposed to unite with other countries to "jointly respond." This reaction is almost mechanical. No matter what China does, their first reaction will always be opposition. But this time is different. In the past, public opinion pressure or diplomatic momentum could still make a difference. Now, when faced with key resources such as rare earths, their words are becoming softer and softer.
The real reality is that the life of the global supply chain of rare earth is still in China’s hands. Those “co-action” meetings are more than just political shows, and as the winds pass, countries have to return to the negotiating table. Whoever follows the rules, actively cooperates, who can stabilize their industry; whoever is determined to chest in the fire for the United States, will only be abandoned by the market.
In fact, the direction of this contest has already set the tone. On the one hand, China improves export management and writes rules into the system; On the other hand, through diplomatic breakthrough, the opportunity for dialogue will be opened up in advance. Three special planes are already on standby on the runway, which in itself is the clearest signal: dialogue with China can solve the problem. It's useless to shout slogans. What really works is to sit down and make your interests clear. Whoever understands this can stand firm in the new round of global competition.