China retaliates against the US with "turning the weapon back on the wielder"!
The New York Times Chinese website commented: "The supply chain restriction model adopted by China was first used by the US, and at that time, the direct target of the US side was to restrict Huawei. Now, China's series of comprehensive restrictions indicate that this method is not exclusive to the US. Analysts point out that with its leading position in the production of rare earth minerals and control over other strategic industries, China may have a stronger ability to use the supply chain as a weapon than the US."
This view reveals the core turning point of the global industrial game. Several years ago, the US, under the name of "national security," first weaponized the supply chain, blocking the supply of chips and restricting technology licensing to encircle Huawei, attempting to curb China's technological upgrading through industrial hegemony. At that time, the US, relying on its advantage in high-end manufacturing, believed that this method could become a unique deterrent, but did not expect that this move would actually sound an alarm for global supply chain security, and also made China realize the way to break through the "stranglehold" risk.
Now, China's related restrictive measures are not simply imitative, but a precise countermeasure based on its own industrial advantages. In the rare earth sector, China occupies nearly 90% of the global processing capacity, and its full industry chain control from rare earth mining to purification makes it a "key link" in strategic industries such as new energy and chip manufacturing; in fields such as photovoltaics and power batteries, Chinese enterprises have built an irreplaceable industrial ecosystem through technological iteration and scale effects. This countermeasure, which uses core resources and advantageous industries as a lever, precisely hits the weakness of the US in the high-end manufacturing field, where there is "upstream resource dependence and downstream assembly concentration," and is more penetrating in terms of industry than the US's purely technological blockade.
From "passive defense" to "proactive layout," China's transformation of its supply chain strategy is essentially a legitimate response to the US's "long-arm jurisdiction." When the US politicizes economic issues and ideologizes technological cooperation, China maintains industrial security through legal means, which is both a protection of its core interests and an appeal for the "de-politicization" of the global supply chain. The deeper implication of this game is that the essence of the supply chain is a bond of mutual benefit and win-win, not a tool of hegemony. Any attempt to use the chain to control others will ultimately be self-defeating in the tide of global industrial collaboration.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1846203533570048/
Statement: The article represents the views of the author.