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

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

#501

Post by eric-hu » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 8:25 AM UTC

meowtimemania wrote: post #227

decafninja wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Face. As an East Asian myself, the amount of stupidity that goes on in all of the East Asian countries at all levels because of “face” is astounding. Call it “honor” or “nationalism” or “XXX Pride” - ultimately all the same thing.

What do you mean by "Face"?

You could call it a combination of pride and appearances. Ego. It's not completely foreign to American society, but it is more pronounced in Asian societies. In these cultures, some perceive it as a sign of weakness to admit fault.

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

#502

Post by herbst » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 8:39 AM UTC

fnordpiglet wrote: post #496

herbst wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I totally agree. But it doesn't influence me here in Europe. And so far I haven't seen any signs that china is trying to change that. While visa and master banning all related to sex has real life consequences. Same with social media showing a skewed censored view on sexuality because of morality views that do not fit the society I live in. Until a few years ago you couldn't watch TV without something exploding and t…

I get that but I don’t get what barriers exist preventing competition that meets your cultures norms. There’s no state mandates involved? I suspect the answer is scale of market giving scale of impact, as well as overall quality of production and post production of American media. What’s your take? Particularly in the space of internet technologies it feels like “nothing stops you.” But I also think global social med…

You are right I guess. Movies being the best example. Netflix and all companies that followed opened up investments in international movies and within only a few years US movies appear to be the minority, at least on German streaming sites.

Today we have several real time payment methods "better" than credit card. I still can't sell a dildo with paypal, but I do have options now (if I don't care about us customers who expect credit card payments)

Social media ist lost cause anyway.

Maybe that should be my point. America is losing its influence, and it's obviously afraid. I am afraid when America is afraid because history has shown in might react wildly.

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

#503

Post by mjevans » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:02 AM UTC

philipkglass wrote: post #421

mjevans wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Centralization promotes efficiency, until a problem happens. I can't seem to find anything in news headlines, probably because the event I remember hearing about likely happened before Google's founding (I think it was the 1990s or 1980s?); but at a point in time the plastic used for either all or a lot of ICs was manufactured in one single facility. That plant happened to catch fire and it was a major supply issue.…

You're probably thinking of the 1993 explosion at Sumitomo Chemical Company's plant that made epoxy resin for semiconductors: "Semiconductor Industry Faces Problems After Resin Plant Explosion" https://apnews.com/article/8fe2925b68d34d33f19a53e4892c74a2 It caused a significant spike in DRAM prices: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-08-06-930806... Today's low personal computer prices, particularly those…

That's close enough that it's probably the event. It might have been slightly oversimplified or 2 decades of neuron decay since I heard about it Nth hand yielding the same effect.

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

#504

Post by varispeed » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:03 AM UTC

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?

I guess government, military, scientific organisations are the customers, where they want to keep their IP within the country.

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

#505

Post by baq » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:06 AM UTC

paganel wrote: post #484

baq wrote: post #454

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven’t heard because they are very good at being quiet about what they do. Google Uighur, then google further since you now know what to look for.

At this point I'm treating any information coming from Western sources as propaganda and definitely questionable. It wasn't always like this, but that's what the last couple of years have made me think. As such, I'd need other sources than Western media to tell me what to think about what happens to the Uighurs (whom I'm sure do not have an easy life, far from it).

Good for you. Don't assume other sources aren't propaganda, though. In fact, they're probably worse.

Chinese sources will be devoid of any information which can put a bad face on the party even in the second order effects.

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

#506

Post by inglor_cz » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:14 AM UTC

senttoschool wrote: post #469

SkyMarshal wrote: post #460

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason why the US doesn't like China is because the US dislikes the idea of being the #2 economy and losing control. This comment gets thrown around a lot but oversimplifies things. First, in the 90s, 2000s, and some of the 2010s ‘the US’ was China’s biggest cheerleader, investor, and supporter. Most US elites knew China would eventually become a bigger economy due to their 4x larger population, and were ok wit…

[flagged]

"The first instinct for the Chinese is to negotiate."

Not within China itself, no.

I think it is useful to judge a country, regime etc. by the ways it treats its own citizens when there is any disagreement between them and the government. The power imbalance between an individual citizen and the government lends itself towards abuse quite naturally.

By this standard, the US is not doing exactly great, especially towards certain ethnicities, and many European countries are better off; but China is much, much worse.

If someone wantonly isolates entire cities to stop the spread of Omicron and throws dissenters into prison or "reeducates" Muslims in camps, I don't want them to have any more power on the international scene than they already do. If only because that could inspire other countries and their politicians to behave more like Mr. Xi and his party.

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

#507

Post by xwdv » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:19 AM UTC

rurp wrote: post #354

basilgohar wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In addition to that, a large portion of necessary spending is unaffected by outsourcing. A person can their spending on clothes or electronics quite low if needed; but housing, food, and energy costs are largely driven by domestic circumstances.

Yes but overwhelmingly it’s the unnecessary spending that brings joy to people’s lives.

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

#508

Post by navigate8310 » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:26 AM UTC

Does it include magnetic ferrite cores and toroids?

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

#509

Post by data-abuse » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:45 AM UTC

SkyMarshal wrote: post #460

snehk wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason why the US doesn't like China is because the US dislikes the idea of being the #2 economy and losing control. The US has absolutely no "morals" so to say and is allied with/provides literal military support to about 70% of dictatorships[1]. The US simply acts out of national interests, not morals. History proves this. I'm baffled by how many Americans repeat state propaganda points. [1] https://truthout.or…

> The reason why the US doesn't like China is because the US dislikes the idea of being the #2 economy and losing control. This comment gets thrown around a lot but oversimplifies things. First, in the 90s, 2000s, and some of the 2010s ‘the US’ was China’s biggest cheerleader, investor, and supporter. Most US elites knew China would eventually become a bigger economy due to their 4x larger population, and were ok wit…

This is close, but the specific verbiage that US leaders hoped for is that China would liberalize and transition to a democracy. In the 2010s, it became clear it wouldn't happen when Xi stepped into the position that he is in today.

The US likes dealing with democracies because the US has so much know how in how to influence elections. The government and CIA has a long history of meddling in elections to get the outcome that is most beneficial for the US.

Ultimately, this has built up many dictatorships around the world that violently suppress political opinions that are detrimental to the US national security.

If you don't know what was going on the middle east with iraq, libya, and syria, read this[1]. After 9/11, before the dust settled, the US wanted to force a regime change in 7 countries that they had no proof was related to 9/11. The US decimated an entire region and sent them back to the stone age for unstated reasons. Please note, all of those countries were not democracies, so they couldn't meddle in elections for more favorable leaders.

China and Xi have been smart enough to avoid a revolution/coup to become an American colony.

https://www.salon.com/2007/10/12/wesley_clark/

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

#510

Post by DiogenesKynikos » Thu, Apr 06, 2023, 9:52 AM UTC

another_story wrote: post #499

DiogenesKynikos wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is this actually true? Yes. The governments of the world switched recognition from the Republic of China to the People's Republic of China, and transferred "China's" UN Security Council seat to the PRC. > However, it seems clear that at least most western countries see Taiwan as its own country in practice. They maintain informal ties, but not formal diplomatic ties. Even the PRC has informal ties with the ROC. > s…

> However, it would be a major step for other countries to decide that Taiwan no longer legally belongs to China. What one means by belongs to China is another matter. Not saying you have, but people will conflate the government of China with China. Taiwan does not belong the current ruling government of China and you will not find many governments which say so.

In terms of international law, the distinction you're drawing between China and the PRC is irrelevant. Legally speaking, Taiwan was recognized as part of China. The fact that there was a revolution in China does not change that, legally speaking.

If such a principle were to be accepted, that a country's territory is called into question every time there's a revolution, it would open a Pandora's box.

Recognizing Taiwan as a formally independent state would be a major step, and it would open up all sorts of previously settled questions about what national sovereignty means.

> you will not find many governments which say so

You will find almost no governments that dispute it. Again, recognizing the formal independence of a territory that has been internationally recognized as part of China would be a major break with previous conceptions of national sovereignty.