美国财长贝森特终于清醒了一点，说如果中国想成为世界不可靠的伙伴，我们就需要与中国脱钩。他在谈到中国拿稀土威胁时说，当非自由市场的中国加入WTO后这世界就没有自由市场。

我们已经在新冠时期见识过，那其实是一次预演。我们已经看到，无论是关键矿产还是关键物资，中国都可能成为全球不可靠的供应商。而他们上周的声明，等于是公开向全世界叫板。我们将拭目以待，看他们是否愿意成为可靠的供应商。

美国在此采取的行动，这也是三十年来逐渐积累的问题。美国曾经掌握着稀土的加工与精炼。后来中国人收购了一家美国公司，按要求，它在美国保留了五年。结果是第五年零一天，他们就把它搬到了中国。

他们在精炼与加工环节形成了扼喉之势。从总体上说，稀土并不稀有，到处都有，关键在精炼与加工。而过去20年发生的情况是，只要在美国或其它自由市场国家新建一个精炼/加工厂，中国方面就会杀价压制。所以我们投资了山口矿，并将以相当于“曲速行动”的力度来确保稀土加工的安全。

同时，我们将为加工与精炼设定保底价格，因为当有一个非自由市场的国家行为体在摧毁产能时，就不可能有真正的自由市场。

US Treasury Secretary Benson has finally come to his senses, saying that if China wants to become an unreliable partner in the world, we need to decouple from it.

Reflecting on China's threat with rare earths, he said, "When non-free-market China joins the WTO, there will be no free market in the world."

We've already seen this during the COVID-19 pandemic; it was a preview. We've seen that China could become an unreliable global supplier of both critical minerals and materials. Their announcement last week was a public challenge to the world. We'll have to wait and see whether they're willing to become a reliable supplier.

The US's actions here are the result of a problem that has accumulated over three decades. The US once controlled the processing and refining of rare earths. Later, the Chinese acquired an American company and were required to keep it in the US for five years. However, five years and one day later, they moved it to China.

They have established a stranglehold on the refining and processing sectors. Generally speaking, rare earths are not rare; they are readily available. The key lies in refining and processing. What has happened over the past 20 years is that whenever a new refinery or processing plant is built in the United States or other free-market countries, China will undercut it on price. Therefore, we have invested in the Shankou mine and will ensure the security of rare earth processing with the equivalent of Operation Warp Speed.

At the same time, we will set a floor price for processing and refining, because there can be no truly free market when a non-free-market state actor is destroying production capacity.

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