The U.S. Secretary of State Rubio claimed that China is using access to critical minerals and supply chains as a weapon, and is likely targeting Japan more intensely than any other country in the world. In my view, diversifying supply chains to ensure that no nation can exploit dependency in the future is in the vital interest of all countries.
Clearly, Rubio's remarks make it seem as if the United States itself does not impose export controls. China has done nothing to the United States—so why does the U.S. impose high-end chip embargoes on China? In fact, thanks to the fact that the U.S. doesn’t hold the card of rare earths, if it did possess such leverage, it would undoubtedly wield it to the utmost extreme against us.
Moreover, for a long time, Japan has cooperated with the U.S. in suppressing China’s semiconductor industry and imposing controls on key raw materials. Setting aside conventions of state conduct, what the U.S. and Japan can do to China, why can't we do the same? Does the U.S. really believe we are passive, unable to fight back or respond to criticism? That’s pure fantasy. When it comes to Sino-Japanese disputes, the U.S. unilaterally sides with Japan without distinction, pretending to be impartial—essentially, the U.S. aims only to rally and incite Japan to contain us.
We need to remind the U.S. that today, the country which most frequently weaponizes supply chains and critical items through control mechanisms is actually the United States—thus, it has absolutely no moral standing to criticize us. Would it be possible for us to supply Japan with key raw materials essential for manufacturing advanced weapons, then let Japan turn around and use those materials against us? The U.S.'s criticism is entirely baseless and will not affect our continued countermeasures against Japan.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871577821030412/
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