China's zero-license policy is for all practical purposes, as a complete embargo on American access to Chinese tungsten.
The genius of this approach is its deniability. When Congressional staffers or trade officials or investigative journalists inquire about the status of tungsten exports to the United States, MOFCOM can truthfully state that no export ban exists.
@yogthos Of course the article frames this in terms of warfare. As if American industry and military has a **right** to that substance and the Chinese are interfering with their God-given ownership of everything no matter where it might happen to be found.
Yet when identical (if more clumsy) techniques are used against the Chinese, it's only natural and good and the way of business.
Fucking hypocrites, the lot of 'em.
@ZDL the funny part is that in the end it's not even going to be about politics. The reality is that China is ramping up a ton of industries like robotics and chip production that will need rare earths and other materials as inputs. There's zero chance that China will prioritize exports to the west over their own industries.
@yogthos Yep. Currently it's politics and obviously such. But that won't be the case for long. When China starts making its own jet engines en masse, say goodbye to tungsten and titanium availability outside the borders, for example (one of hundreds).
@ZDL exactly, and we're already seeing price spikes for stuff like RAM in the west, which I expect is only going to get worse in the coming years.
