🌍 China’s “periodic table colonization” neutralizes traditional geographic chokepoints and turns global interdependence into a tool of coercion.
- Territorial chokepoints (Strait of Malacca, Suez Canal) are vulnerable to rapid adaptation or circumvention.
- Tariffs and blockades impose mutual pain but rarely shift strategic advantage.
- China’s Belt & Road reduces exposure to maritime leverage.
🧪 Elemental Power Is Strategic
- China controls 60–96% of global refining capacity for critical minerals like dysprosium, terbium, graphite.
- Rare earth export restrictions paralyze Western defense and tech sectors.
- Beijing absorbs economic pain more efficiently by redirecting output to domestic champions.
🧬 China’s 21st Century Playbook
- Selective rare earth bans avoid broad retaliation while targeting sensitive sectors (e.g. Nuclear Submarines)
- Withholds refining IP to trap rivals in upstream dependence.
- Forces allies to export raw ore to China for processing, making ownership irrelevant.
- Uses secondary sanctions to pressure Western companies to move more production into China to access raw materials e.g. shifting from importing magnets to buying finished motors.
