China’s rare earth steel is transforming infrastructure. That’s bad news for the Pentagon.
by Inside China Business [1-13-2026].
The Pentagon has been cut off from China's rare earth metals that are critical in advanced weapons manufacturing.
A bigger issue is that researchers in China are finding new commercial applications for rare earths, and those are in high demand by engineers building railroads, pipelines, and hydropower and renewables projects.
NATO and Washington are desperate to build a domestic industry for rare earth extraction and refining, which will take decades. But eventual suppliers will have a small numbers of buyers, and a handful of engineers from the munitions industry building new technologies and markets.
In contrast, tens of thousands of civilian engineers and a dozen of the top universities in China are designing and patenting advanced applications for rare earth metals for civilian use.
Closing scene, Donghu Lake, Shaoxing.
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