US hawks and Chinese communists agree: no rare earths for Pentagon
- The two sides ironically see eye to eye as a new US Senate bill proposes banning defence contractors from buying Chinese-sourced rare earths. Meantime, Beijing has been mulling putting restrictions on rare earth supplies crucial to those same manufacturers
Washington has sanctioned hundreds of Chinese firms and banned American ones from doing business with them. If they are hi-tech, such as Huawei, it’s because they might compromise online security. If they are textiles, their production might violate human rights. If they are listed on US stock exchanges, they might expose investors to financial fraud. Some people truly believe those excuses. But realists and cynics know better.
A bill just submitted to the US Senate rather gives the game away. Republican Senator Tom Cotton and his Democrat counterpart Mark Kelly last week tabled “the Restoring Essential Energy and Security Holdings Onshore for Rare Earths (REEShore) Act”.
It aims to reduce America’s dependence on Chinese rare earths, which the senators describe as having a “chokehold” on worldwide supply and promote American domestic production. So far, so good. But controversy arises from the other primary aim of the bill, which, if passed, will ban US defence contractors buying from China. Perhaps Chinese rare earths are tainted, too, and could compromise the integrity of America’s hi-tech defence systems!
Rare earth metals are essential to the production of modern electronics such as smartphones, and to industries in clean energy, aerospace, automotive and defence.
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No doubt America has every right to impose such a ban, except that it aligns well with Beijing’s thinking, which has been mulling putting restrictions on rare earth supplies crucial to US defence manufacturers. If enacted, the bill could have a direct impact on the production of advanced US F-35 fighter jets. It’s good to know some of Washington’s anti-China hawks are on the same page with their Chinese communist enemies.
But where do the Senate pair propose US defence contractors to find alternative production sources for such elements as yttrium, dysprosium, samarium and neodymium? These are used to produce laser optics, missile guidance and control systems, satellite communications and other hi-tech applications in advanced defence systems.
The bill proposes buying only American rare earths. Currently, though, the US has only one functioning rare earths mine and no plants that can independently process powerful magnets, which represent “the single largest and most important end use for REEs”, according to a Canadian government study.
To fill the gap, the new bill helpfully requests the Pentagon to open its strategic materials reserve which includes rare earths, to its contractors. And where do those rare earths come from? You guessed it: China.
