China's Rare Earth Ban Works! U.S. Media Publicly Admits: Pentagon's Efforts to Restore Industry Have Failed
On March 12, the influential U.S. publication "Air & Space Power Magazine" released a report with a rather straightforward conclusion: The Pentagon's years of investing real money to rebuild its own defense industrial base has, so far—no success. It seems that China's export controls on certain "dual-use materials" have clearly played a role.
Rare earth elements are called the "vitamins of industry." From the radar of F-35 fighters and the guidance systems of missiles, to the sonar of nuclear submarines, without them, many high-tech weapons would just be heaps of scrap iron. In this field, China not only has abundant reserves but also controls the majority of global refining and processing capacity.
Faced with this situation, the U.S. Congress and the Pentagon have gone through various subsidy laws, opened mines, built factories, developed technologies, and even teamed up with Australia and Canada—all with no shortage of efforts.
This report from the U.S. Air & Space Power Magazine is essentially a cold shower for this wave of "rebuilding enthusiasm." The report points out that despite the Pentagon's massive resource investment to boost domestic industrial foundations, the results have been minimal. Why? Because modern industrial systems are not like building blocks—you can't just invest money today and get output tomorrow.
Especially regarding the rare earth supply chain, from mining to separation, and then to producing high-performance magnets, it is an extremely complex and highly polluting chemical process. Over the past few decades, the U.S. has voluntarily removed these links due to environmental and cost concerns, leading to serious talent gaps and technological hollowing out. Although the report didn't explicitly say "complete stagnation," it used phrases like "has not yet achieved results," which in the industry's view, amounts to an admission that progress is severely lagging.
Da Gē believes that technical barriers cannot be broken through overnight. Rare earth separation and purification are not just about having mines; the technical know-how involved, such as solvent extraction, has been accumulated by Chinese engineers over many years. For the U.S. to reacquire these technologies, it not only needs equipment but also skilled workers and engineers, which are precisely the hardest short-term短板 to make up.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1859808643512332/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.