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I can't quite see this happening, it would trigger all kinds of retaliation and WTO type wrangling. I suspect China is doing a bit of posturing ahead of the Cop
by d4nt 17y ago
I can't quite see this happening, it would trigger all kinds of retaliation and WTO type wrangling. I suspect China is doing a bit of posturing ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference.
- coliveira 17y agoI don't think what they are trying to do is illegal, because they want to use the resources for themselves. Nobody can be forced to sell what they need to use...
- d4nt 17y agoI don't mean to suggest it would be illegal. I just think that if they refuse to sell us these minerals, then we might refuse to sell them BMWs or the video games... and so on until somebody sees sense.
- cglee 17y agoAren't BMWs German? And no one in China buys video games. They all play online versions. We could stop selling them Starbucks, McDonald's and Coke I guess.
- warfangle 17y agoWe (the US, at least) also have to tread carefully around China. They hold a majority of our government's debt...
- bwhite 17y agoThis isn't right. China holds between 22-25% of US debt, which is a plurality, not close to a majority (http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt). China has also indicated that it would prefer to buy less US debt, though it's unclear if this is posturing or not. Both countries are over each other's barrels, to mangle the metaphor. If you owe the bank $10,000 and you walk in and tell them you're struggling, they'll just look at you funny. If you owe the bank $10,000,000,000 dollars and you walk in and tell them you're struggling, you better believe they'll want to work with you. The USD makes up about 65% of foreign reserves (down from about a steady 70-ish% between 2001-2007). China doesn't keep buying USDs for fun. They buy them for profit, stability, and for preventing the appreciation of the yuan.
- dkersten 17y agoNobody should be forced to sell regardless of if they need to use it themselves or not.
- jhancock 17y agomost likely this is posturing, at least in part. One key difference between Chinese and Western culture is the degree to which "a deal can be renegotiated". The Chinese tend more towards "a deal is always open to renegotiation". Western minds tend to try to live with and work around the ink that's already dry. btw, I have no idea what WTO agreements are in place on these issues. There may be little details that hold China to being required to export these materials.