China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech • Hacker News Board

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#281

Post by chii » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:10 AM UTC

varispeed wrote: post #254

jacquesm wrote: post #230

In a way this is good news. The more China overplays its hand in this undeclared economic war the more likely that Western countries will realize that they are making the exact same mistake with China that they have made with Russia. You can't play nice with dictatorships in the hope that your long term economic interests will be aligned to the point that the other party will be forced to continue to play nice. China…

Most people don't want to try and make things, so they are unaware how incredibly f we are. Like I have little project and needed an enclosure made to order. Nothing fancy. Tried three rather known Western vendors and none could manufacture it to an acceptable standard. It was also very expensive and customer service seemed annoyed that I even want to order anything. I lost a lot of money on this, simply because I di…

How do these non-chinese companies survive if their production is so bad, customer service so poor, and price is so high? Who are their current customers that are paying for their services?

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#282

Post by selimthegrim » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:11 AM UTC

unaindz wrote: post #201

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why is the CCP so intent on controlling the land of another country? The way you frame the question already suggests that you're not interested in why China (not just the CCP - this is a broad sentiment inside China) sees things the way it does. Taiwan is not seen as "another country" in China. It's seen as a Chinese province that is temporarily separated from China due to the civil war. This was also the view of s…

> So if both China and Taiwan wanted and want to be united why don't they? I was gonna ask that but researched a little bit of history first. So the CCP won the civil war against the government at the time, the PRC, which retreated to Taiwan. What I didn't get is that both governments consider China to include the Taiwan territory, they just don't agree on which is the legitimate government. Please correct me if I'm…

The ROC, not PRC

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#283

Post by humanistbot » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:11 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #239

klodolph wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am less convinced that China is really good at playing the long game, and more convinced that China is subject to many of the same political struggles that we see in the US. It’s just so easy to tap into our fears of China that we want to believe that they’re this smart and ruthless. We look for evidence to validate our feelings. There are deposits of these rare earth minerals elsewhere. There are always more depos…

You don't need to be afraid of China to realize that outsourcing a very large fraction of all manufacturing for half the world to a single non-democratic country doesn't serve our interests in the long run.

> non-democratic country

Just because a country is a democracy does not mean it will be a reliable trading partner. Democracies can easily swing from free market to protectionist trade policies -- and back. Outsourcing a very large fraction of all manufacturing for half the world to any single country is an incredibly risky idea.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#284

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:12 AM UTC

pm90 wrote: post #279

klodolph wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am less convinced that China is really good at playing the long game, and more convinced that China is subject to many of the same political struggles that we see in the US. It’s just so easy to tap into our fears of China that we want to believe that they’re this smart and ruthless. We look for evidence to validate our feelings. There are deposits of these rare earth minerals elsewhere. There are always more depos…

Agreed. Everyone wants a bogeyman. It’s great for Nationalism and Politicians who can blame someone else. Strong economic ties are the only way to align interests and prevent destructive wars.

That worked so well for Russia and the West.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#285

Post by koolba » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:14 AM UTC

klodolph wrote: post #251

jacquesm wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need to be afraid of China to realize that outsourcing a very large fraction of all manufacturing for half the world to a single non-democratic country doesn't serve our interests in the long run.

True, but we do have to let go of our fear of China if we want to have any hope of figuring out what our own actions should be.

Fear of China may be the only thing capable of pulling us out of the mess that we’ve reached.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#286

Post by jacquesm » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:14 AM UTC

cpursley wrote: post #277

varispeed wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't want to try and make things, so they are unaware how incredibly f we are. Like I have little project and needed an enclosure made to order. Nothing fancy. Tried three rather known Western vendors and none could manufacture it to an acceptable standard. It was also very expensive and customer service seemed annoyed that I even want to order anything. I lost a lot of money on this, simply because I di…

Agree! I just ordered a custom made guitar ("NK headless guitars" on aliexpress for those who are interested). While's there's a bit of a language barrier, there's no way I could get close to the level of customer support and quality for the price ($500). You can't even start a conversation with a US/EU company for less than $2000k USD for a custom guitar build. This Chinese company started off cloning a well known b…

> I just don't get the anti-China hate. Is it racism?

It is 100% possible to see China as a long term economic (and possibly military but I doubt that) threat, abhor their human rights violations, love Chinese people and despise the CCP all in one go.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#287

Post by heavyset_go » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:14 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #239

klodolph wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am less convinced that China is really good at playing the long game, and more convinced that China is subject to many of the same political struggles that we see in the US. It’s just so easy to tap into our fears of China that we want to believe that they’re this smart and ruthless. We look for evidence to validate our feelings. There are deposits of these rare earth minerals elsewhere. There are always more depos…

You don't need to be afraid of China to realize that outsourcing a very large fraction of all manufacturing for half the world to a single non-democratic country doesn't serve our interests in the long run.

It serves the interests of those who run this country, they've made themselves very rich via this strategy.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#288

Post by vkou » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:14 AM UTC

Rexxar wrote: post #240

vkou wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only the US, after all, is allowed to militarize the South China sea.

What's you opinion about Indian Ocean, Sea of Japan, Persian Gulf and Gulf of Mexico ?

I feel that if Chinese carrier groups were based out of Cuba, or were routinely conducting exercises right outside Chesapeake bay, the complaints would probably be reversed by ~180 degrees.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#289

Post by kemiller » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:14 AM UTC

cpursley wrote: post #277

varispeed wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't want to try and make things, so they are unaware how incredibly f we are. Like I have little project and needed an enclosure made to order. Nothing fancy. Tried three rather known Western vendors and none could manufacture it to an acceptable standard. It was also very expensive and customer service seemed annoyed that I even want to order anything. I lost a lot of money on this, simply because I di…

Agree! I just ordered a custom made guitar ("NK headless guitars" on aliexpress for those who are interested). While's there's a bit of a language barrier, there's no way I could get close to the level of customer support and quality for the price ($500). You can't even start a conversation with a US/EU company for less than $2000k USD for a custom guitar build. This Chinese company started off cloning a well known b…

Not anti-China, anti-CCP. China has an amazing culture with deep history and they have shown themselves to be astounding competent. But autocratic systems are self-defeating. When leadership is sound, it seems like a great idea. But because power is absolute it just takes one wrong turn to wreck everything, which is what is happening now. Under Hu, Chinas ascendancy seemed inevitable. Not anymore.

Re: China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

#290

Post by type0 » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 12:15 AM UTC

cpursley wrote: post #277

varispeed wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't want to try and make things, so they are unaware how incredibly f we are. Like I have little project and needed an enclosure made to order. Nothing fancy. Tried three rather known Western vendors and none could manufacture it to an acceptable standard. It was also very expensive and customer service seemed annoyed that I even want to order anything. I lost a lot of money on this, simply because I di…

Agree! I just ordered a custom made guitar ("NK headless guitars" on aliexpress for those who are interested). While's there's a bit of a language barrier, there's no way I could get close to the level of customer support and quality for the price ($500). You can't even start a conversation with a US/EU company for less than $2000k USD for a custom guitar build. This Chinese company started off cloning a well known b…

> I just don't get the anti-China hate. Is it racism?

There are plenty of reasons for anti-China sentiments, some don't like to deal with China because of animal rights abuses, others because of mistreatments of the Uyghurs, what the CCP did to Hong Kong etc. I would rather buy the same item when it says Made in Vietnam/India/Thailand over the one that's made in China, and that's not because of bad craftsmanship or racism.