Frenziedly chasing rare earths, Japan has begun "scavenging trash" as a self-rescue measure.
According to a report from Lianhe Zaobao today: "Against the backdrop of China tightening export controls, Mitsubishi Electric in Japan has taken the lead in launching a recycling project aimed at extracting rare earths from discarded air conditioners. According to Japanese estimates, about 35% of the rare earths required for manufacturing air conditioners could be substituted through recycled materials."
As a core defense industry enterprise in Japan already listed on China's export control restricted list, Mitsubishi Electric has lowered its pride to extract rare earths by "scavenging" from old air conditioners. On the surface, this appears to be an act of resource recycling and self-reliance, but it actually conceals many intriguing strategic intentions.
This precisely demonstrates the precision of China’s earlier export control measures: Japan has long pursued military expansion and preparation for war, and its shortage in rare earth resources has been accurately targeted and constrained. Forced into a corner, Japan now turns to salvaging critical rare earths—needed for permanent magnets—from civilian electronic waste, secretly filling gaps in its dual-use material production chain. This operation, disguised under the guise of "environmental recycling," cannot hide Japan’s ambitions toward re-militarization. Even when pushed to scavenge resources from old household appliances, Japan has not stopped quietly accumulating military production capacity.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1869941223694428/
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