The Western world has been exploiting the resources of other nations for centuries. Lastly, it was China that handled all the industrial processing. Now the Western world points fingers at China because its CO2 emissions and pollution are unbearable. Too lazy.
I am wondering how Trump's plan to recover some industrial processing power will fit into this rhetoric, but it's a long shot, versus the incredible dynamics of his positions.
Just because one did a bad thing, doesn't justify other doing a bad thing. Western world and their colonization is the reason why they are so rich.
If you go back a thousand years ago, the gap between Europe and Asia wasn't as big as this, but now when you look at it, it's bigger, that is because of resources being plundered by them.
Should we be okay with another nation doing that? Absolutely not, that's still bad, call for reparations if you want, but not illegal mining.
I would say, a simple solution is right there; all of western world rejects ALL Chinese companies from selling in their nations, until they fix their CO2 emissions, suddenly, China will be the cleanest nation in the world to be allowed to sell again.
It doesn’t work like that.
Firstly, China has to go through exactly the same steps the Western world took. It might be shorter in time and quicker to learn, but they have to go the full route without skipping anything.
Secondly, the kind of retaliation you suggest would immediately be broken by some opportunistic player. It’s not a credible mechanism.
REE = Rare Earth Element
REM = Rare Earth Mineral
The essence of business is maximizing profits with minimal capital. This is the application of economic principles, namely optimizing the use of limited resources (capital) to achieve maximum results or profits through effective and efficient management, not just minimal sacrifice. This is achieved by reducing production costs, seeking appropriate market opportunities, and marketing products intelligently. Free markets, as a result of liberalism and democracy, also apply economic principles: increasing market access, encouraging innovation and energy transfer, enriching consumer choices, creating jobs, and increasing foreign exchange. Although there are economic principles within free markets, such as comparative advantage, fair competition, and maximizing profits and minimizing losses, many countries perceive them differently (exploitation, new forms of colonialism, hegemony). The problem, however, is simply a different starting point. Because developed countries build their systems and developing countries follow suit, developing countries have no option but to change the established system.
Since 1840, China has experienced repeated military invasions by imperialist powers, and each war ended in defeat. However, the war against Japanese aggression united the nation for the first time and ended in total victory, restoring China's self-confidence. This victory marked the beginning of the Chinese people's journey towards independence, prosperity, and progress. China subsequently became a founding member of the United Nations (UN) and a permanent member of the Security Council, marking the first time in modern history that China participated in shaping the international order as a great power.
China's role in fighting Japan and being a key ally of the United States in the Pacific War/World War II has been largely forgotten. The memory of the war taught a bitter lesson: that underdevelopment made China vulnerable to attack, which drove China to accelerate scientific and technological innovation.
Simply put, the industrial era can be seen in America, Europe, and China. The time interval is easier to understand. Furthermore, the complexity of post-war national development is very complex, based on priorities and limitations.
For REE itself, Deng Xiaoping made it a national asset and then utilized geological and cost advantages to support domestic industrialization with a pragmatic, non-militant approach, focusing on building domestic processing capacity by preparing a large production base and processing chain. Meanwhile, Xi Jing Ping made REE a geopolitical instrument and strategic value chain: consolidation, export control/export-regime, foreign investment to secure supply & move processing capacity and technology to the BRI corridor. China also uses processing technology assistance to bind regional partners, with coverage of Africa (mine consolidation & concessions), Southeast Asia (investment and processing facilities), Eurasia/Central Asia (sources & transit), and Oceania/Latin America (strategic mines).