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China plans to ban exports of rare earth magnet tech

japannews.yomiuri.co.jp

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

#311

Post by xwdv »

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.

Unfortunately the US consumer simply cannot afford to pay more for products no produced in non-democratic nations with impossibly cheap labor. They are already being pushed to the brink.

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

#312

Post by imwillofficial »

sinoue wrote: post #293
humanistbot wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Democracies aren’t beholden to the ego of an authoritarian. Free trade for free countries, and a tyrant tax for authoritarian regimes should be the norm if we want human centered capitalism. https://freedomhouse.org/explore-the-map?type=fiw&year=2023

"Not beholden", like say, unilaterally waging war on another country without congressional approval?

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

#313

Post by cpursley »

fbdab103 wrote: post #310
cpursley wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Well, Strandburg probably has some thoughts on why they dislike China.

This builder creates their own unique design. And Strandburg used to open source their designs: https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/3lb8pm/strandbe...

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

#314

Post by nobodyandproud »

thrashh wrote: post #267
nobodyandproud wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The US did all the things that you are complaining that it didn't do. Strange. Do you believe the US is the entire Western civilization? And do you believe if the entire US believed Russia was going to invade, that we wouldn’t have pressured Germany even more?

No but your point is that it is a weakness of the democratic process when clearly the democratic process created both outcomes. You also made the point that a weakness of democracy is that it follows the general sentiment, but clearly the US govt didn't give a damn that a lot of people didn't care about Russia or weren't even aware of the things the US govt was doing -- like trying to put US missile installations in…

> You also made the point that a weakness of democracy is that it follows the general sentiment,

I never implied this is a weakness.

Instead…

> but clearly the US govt didn't give a damn that a lot of people didn't care about Russia or weren't even aware of the things the US govt was doing -- like trying to put US missile installations in other sovereign nations. We tried and tried... for a very long time.

I’m saying this is a clear failure of leadership.

> I've heard that Angela Merkel supported the shutdown of nuclear reactors after Fukishima because she wanted to shore up her popularity. An authoritarian leader could have done exactly the same thing -- who doesn't want to look good?

Then that’s a clear failure of leadership. In this instance, instead of persuading the public she let the public persuade her.

Still, if Merkel genuinely believed that Russia was a threat, I doubt she would have done this. Of course, we now believe German intelligence was compromised by Russia.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/germany-soft-target-russi...

> Ultimately, I don't think democracy can be blamed. We can blame bad leadership in some cases, but that is a problem endemic to every political system.

We enabled our enemies because leadership believed that the market would liberalize our enemies. We let our guard down.

While late, it’s now leaderships’ job to persuade the public of the threats at hand.

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

#315

Post by nirav72 »

arroz wrote: post #299
nirav72 wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It has know-how and capital (means of production) of things that are important to China It has the capital. Not the Know-how or expertise. If it did, it wouldn't be stuck manufacturing lower end semi-conductors. In a hypothetical scenario - where China does manage to successfully invade the island, they won't be able to keep the foundries running for long. Because most of the design, IP, machinery and chemicals use…

Stuck manufacturing low end semiconductors? Taiwan? Low end? What?

Might want to read the above comment again. :)

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

#316

Post by fbdab103 »

cpursley wrote: post #313
fbdab103 wrote: post #310

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Strandburg probably has some thoughts on why they dislike China.

This builder creates their own unique design. And Strandburg used to open source their designs: https://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/3lb8pm/strandbe...

That reddit link reaches out to a page [0] that puts the license as CC BY-NC-SA 3.0, meaning non-commercial. Looking at the updated strandberg site[1] and some Ali clones, they look identical[2]. Maybe there are tweaks to the design, but it sure looks like the IP has been lifted entirely.

[0] https://guitarworks.thestrandbergs.com/

[1] https://strandbergguitars.com/

[2] https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-headless-guitar.html

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

#317

Post by basilgohar »

xwdv wrote: post #311
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.

Unfortunately the US consumer simply cannot afford to pay more for products no produced in non-democratic nations with impossibly cheap labor. They are already being pushed to the brink.

As long as many companies continue to make year-on-year record profits, I reject that prices are a product solely of non-Democratic countries' impossibly cheap labor.

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

#318

Post by lixtra »

8note wrote: post #302
nobodyandproud wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Where are we exactly? Your prediction has not been proven correct. Even as much as things are escalating, war does not appear imminent nor certain. We’re much closer than we were 20 years ago. Nobody believed Russia would actually invade Ukraine; nor that Xi would be foolish enough to scare away Taiwan by muscling in on Hong Kong. Unless the CCP forces Xi out, their hardliners and the middle-kingdom mindset have al…

Warfare with China is pretty inevitable while the US and its allies aims for containment and control over china's access to the Pacific ocean and shipping lanes. China has a strategic need for ocean access, regardless of who is in charge, and everyone else is looking for a military confrontation on that. If china controlled the whole US east coast's access to the Atlantic ocean, and the US needed Chinese permission t…

When were Chinese shipping lanes threatened by the west last time?

A potential threat does not count. China potentially threatens the destruction of the west coast by nukes, so by your argument the US should have gone to war long ago if potential threats count.

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

#319

Post by porknubbins »

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…

Doing business with Chinese counterparties you have to worry they will renege on contracts if the market goes too far against them and you will have no recourse. Sometimes you get great value like your custom guitar, sometimes you get screwed. It pays to be a little cynical when doing business with Chinese companies has such a variance.

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

#320

Post by troyvit »

chii wrote: post #281
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…

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?

US government contracts? (I'm joking ... I think)
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