David Craig, on March 11th, 2020(Wednesday/Thursday blog)
The great antibiotic threat
Let me start with some figures I found shocking – somewhere between 80% and 95% of all antibiotics (different sources give different figures) used in the USA are manufactured in China.
Let’s think of the implications of this: were China and the USA to get into a spat about trade or China’s territorial expansion ambitions or China threatening American allies like Taiwan or Japan, the Chinese government could just claim that there had been problems in a few antibiotic manufacturing plants and reduce or even cut off all exports of antibiotics to the USA. How many Americans would die from lack of effective antibiotics? Thousands? Tens of thousands?
I don’t know. But merely the prospect of this should make USA politicians review their dependence on their enemy – China.
The rare earth metals threat
Or let’s take another essential of modern industrial society – rare earth metals. From what little I understand, these are essential for things like phones, computers, electric cars and many other products. In addition to the electronics sector, the U.S. defense industry relies heavily on rare earth elements. Industries that rely on permanent magnets are particularly vulnerable to disruptions in the supply chain. For example, the batteries in electric vehicles rely on neodymium and praseodymium. These magnets are also necessary in key parts of the U.S. security industry, including missile-guidance systems and drone technology. There are no quick or easy alternatives
Industry figures suggest that China controls over 95% of rare earth metal production:
This chart only goes up to the year 2000. The latest figures for 2018 were that China was producing around 120,000 metric tons a year – six times as much as the second largest producer, Australia:
- China. Mine production: 120,000 MT. …
- Australia. Mine production: 20,000 MT. …
- United States. Mine production: 15,000 MT. …
- Myanmar. Mine production: 5,000 MT. …
- Russia. Mine production: 2,600 MT.
In 2010, China cut off rare earth exports to Japan in the midst of a territorial dispute. The Japanese state and private sectors quickly understood their vulnerability to Chinese blackmail and aggressively moved to lessen their dependence on China. But the United States did not. A key takeaway is that the uncertainty of 2010 fundamentally changed Japanese but not American behaviour. Japan’s state and private sectors collaborated to diversify the rare earth supply through industrial policy, diplomatic efforts, and the efforts of private enterprise.
And when a US company did open a rare earth metals mine (in Montana I think), the Chinese just dropped the price for a while and bankrupted the US business.
The global supply chain threat
Across the world, China is buying up mines, ports, agricultural land and much much more as part of China’s efforts to dominate and control world trade.
Fortunately, the Australian Government prevented a Chinese company connected with the Chinese Government from buying up large quantities of agricultural land and, if I remember correctly, the US Government prevented a Chinese company connected to the Chinese Government from buying some US ports. Meanwhile, the US and Australia have blocked Huawei from building their 5G networks. But these few setbacks haven’t slowed China’s increasing dominance of the world’s economy.
Our rulers tell us how wonderful globalisation is. And we accept that because we can get cheap stuff made in China. But we have made ourselves vulnerable as much of Western industry would collapse if the Chinese Government cut off exports that we rely on.
Does China already own Britain?
Meanwhile in Britain, a Chinese company connected with the Chinese Government is building our new generation of nuclear power stations. Meanwhile in Britain, a Chinese company connected with the Chinese Government is building our new 5G network. Meanwhile in Britain, a Chinese company connected with the Chinese Government wants to build our next generation of high-speed trains. Meanwhile in Britain, a Chinese company connected with the Chinese Government has just bought what’s left of British Steel.
Why do so few people understand the Chinese threat?
If our governments had any balls, they’d immediately impose tariffs of say 50% on all imports from China until China reimburses every country for the economic damage done by the virus that leaked from Wuhan’s Institute of Virology L-4 lab because some worker there didn’t follow the correct decontamination procedures.
Here’s Fox News’s Tucker Carlson explaining the China threat. You should start watching this video from around 3 minutes 50 seconds:
Category: 
UK is still fully signed up to the neocon playbook which requires globalism and subservience to supranational bodies.
So if we are not owned yet by china its not for a lack of trying. We gave their leader a state reception and had our idiotic police beat up human right protestors.
The uk also did everything to keep trump out of the white house and has been shown to be complicit in acting against the trump campaign. All because he wanted to steer america away from the globalist wet dream realising it was a dead end. Sadly we are still clinging to the sinking ship.
Well that was a depressing start to the day. It confirms my own views and sometimes I feel that I need somebody to convince me I’m wrong. In my view trade in the wider sense of exchange of goods and knowledge is the basis of the advanced standard of living that many of us enjoy. Countries cannot isolate themselves from trade otherwise they go backwards and history shows this is true.
What we need is free market trade and Daniel Hannan wrote a good piece on this a few days ago, with the emphasis on the market being in control of trade. This is exactly what big business and governments do not like. Between them they operate what I call state controlled capitalism and because there is not a free market many people wrongly think we need more government control. This is the wrong thing to do and plays into the hands of China and socialists world wide.
The UK dominated the world at the time of the industrial revolution because we had the materials (iron and coal) and we had the scientists and engineers developing steam power. Those days are gone. We had to leave coal in the ground because it became too expensive to mine and now the ridiculous climate policies mean we cannot even burn cheap imported coal. As a result of this and carbon taxes out domestic energy is 35% higher and commercial energy 60% higher than it should be. Our government is the cause of these problems and school children play a big part. This is how ridiculous the UK has become.
Trump has not fallen for the climate crisis and so America is better placed, except for the loonies in California where renewable energy is also making the poor even poorer, but the celebs can afford it. However, Trump is using taxes to support uncompetitive businesses, which he promised to do. In the long term this will not make America richer.
Trade has always been global although the size of the globe was effectively smaller in the past. We only have to look at the goods that were traded and the famous silk route. The theory is that global trade makes the use of materials and people more efficient. But it only works if every country has something to trade and the theory is the most advanced countries will come up with new ideas. The UK cannot manufacture because we have to import materials, our labour costs are too high, and we have a dumbed down younger generation who are only fit to work in coffee shops. We have allowed our businesses to be taken over, sold property to foreigners and we wonder why we cannot provide services. The answer is obvious. We are a failing country because we expect a high standard but are not able to work to provide it. Our governments ensure what we have is from debt and we have more of this from Boris.
The video blames globalisation of trade for problems and spread of disease, but as far as I can see it is leisure that is the cause of the Coronavirus spread. Tourism is the worst form of trade. It has destroyed many Mediterranean coastal areas, resulted in low paid jobs, and it distorts economic decisions. Here, it is more important to have money for leisure than to use it for health care. The west, including America, is increasingly dependent on the state for essentials and people take no responsibility for themselves. It was personal responsibility that got us to where we are, state dependency is taking us backwards. This is the slow march of socialism which is the biggest evil created by man and it is the cause of all the worlds problems. America is now falling into its grip. China will dominate the world. There is no stopping it now.
I don’t buy it. The greatest immediate threat to our prosperity right now is clearly the EU who are out to destroy our economy as an example to any of its membership who also might want to jump ship. In the longer term, I see the FT claims that : “The EU will face flows of migrants and asylum seekers across the Mediterranean for decades to come.” – and it is delusional to think that Europe can repel those millions of migrants and asylum seekers! Right now, Erdogan has threatened to let the 3.5 million Syrian refugees now residing in Turkey, storm the borders of Europe via Greece – and unless Greece has the ruthlessness to shoot dead a few thousand to discourage them, millions will get through – and many on to here in Britain as we also appear incapable of defending our own borders. And the Syrian refugee problem, like every other disastrous state of affairs in the Middle East right now, is the result of ham-fisted, boneheaded American aggression in that part of the world, nothing to do with China. And in the longer term, it has become obvious that in this country, our granddaughters will be living under Sharia and obliged to wear the veil in public. Maybe we should seek China’s aid to modify this coming nightmare, they at least know how to deal with potential threats to their future as an indigenous, monocultural society.
I don’t agree William. It is all part of the same problem. The leaders in every country only want one thing and that is control over us. They don’t care about us and they do everything they can to make us dependent on them. Migrants depend on the state they go to and this just gives the state more power. The EU does not want to repel them. It does not matter whether it is a one party state like China, or the ballot box, the aim of the elite is the same. China does however have control over its population because it uses force but the EU seems to have lost control, but it does not matter to the elites because they ensure they are protected.
The Chinese youth now seem resigned to the control. I saw a series of programmes in China interviewing young people. What stood out was they are all better educated and full of ideas but they accept the control and restrictions. China is not going to help us, it does not need us.
It can work another way as well – the more China invests in the West, the more it’s economy will be at the mercy of Western capitalism’s cycles of boom and bust, and the more it will be in its economic interest to assist political and financial stability. The US President’s recent threats of a trade war certainly got the attention of China’s leadership very quickly.
In contrast, the Russian Federation has few financial interests and investments in the West, and exports little in the way of manufactured goods, or services. Its principal exports are oil and natural gas. In the real world, despite the blatherings of the Gretards, there will be a worldwide market for oil and gas for the foreseeable future, so all-in-all the West has little leverage with Russia’s leadership. Thus NATO’s sanctions, after Russia reclaimed the Crimea, were met with just a shrug and a determination to increase Russia’s own self-sufficiency (as hopefully we will do once our ‘Decree Absolute’ from the EU comes through).
China’s investments in African infrastructure have been given much publicity, but Africa remains Africa and it doesn’t matter how much money China pumps in – the West has given Africa the equivalent of several Marshall plans already without much effect, and it will be just the same money pit for the Chinese, as they will learn to their cost in the fullness of time.