It's time to start dealing with Japan! Every move hits the mark, each one deadly, and militarism will never rise again.

The Ministry of Commerce bans all dual-use items for Japanese military users, military purposes, and all Japanese military users. Dual-use refers to military and civilian applications. Rare earths are a typical dual-use item. Just banning rare earth exports to Japan is already a big deal. Now it's all dual-use. Many might say it's only for military use! But I decide what the purpose is! If I say the drones and accessories bought by Russia are civilian, then they are civilian. Even if you use them to blow people up, they are still civilian. I only control the sale, what others do with them is not my concern. If I say the satellite positioning components bought by Russia are civilian, then they are civilian! What does it matter if they are mounted on missiles or shells and turned into precision weapons? Do you understand free trade? This standard is what I say it is. There's no other way; I learned all this from the Americans. This trick is really effective! If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have wasted Fena's stuff.
Japan is a defeated country. The verbal justification for this embargo is to prevent militarism, which is a precise strike at the heart of the issue. Japan's navy and air force cannot do without heavy rare earths, and only China and Russia can produce heavy rare earths. This means that no matter how much military spending Japan has, it’s useless—no advanced equipment can be produced without them. Of course, everyone knows they could buy from the Americans, but Smith's US military industry is already consuming more than half of its own output, so exporting to Japan would take a big chunk. Moreover, US military production is tight, which means high prices and low output. China’s move not only forces the US to allocate some of its limited military industrial capacity to Japan, further weakening US domestic production, but Japan used to help the US build ships. Now, they can't even do that and have to resist on their own. The US is bitter about this. Look at the US-China tariff war—by the end, China only restricted rare earth exports, and the US immediately calmed down. They found a way to delay. This is just a restriction; the so-called restriction means I’m not refusing to sell, but you can apply, and I can approve. Of course, the big nephews still say the same thing: if you don’t produce it in minutes, you can go buy it elsewhere. Public opinion can be deceived, but the US’s performance won't be. If there’s any hope, they wouldn’t kneel so easily.
Initially, these sanctions are mostly emotional reactions, which will cause short-term increases in industrial costs, leading to higher product prices. Gradually, some companies won't be able to sustain, and the economy will further deteriorate, with domestic conflicts intensifying. The mildest outcome is that a more reasonable government comes to power, slowly repairs, and recovers. More seriously, Japan will become a third-rate country, unable to guarantee its survival. The US has no issues in the Gulf, but Japan might. We don’t know how far this policy will be enforced. If strict dual-use export bans are implemented, drones like DJI’s definitely won’t be sold anymore, and rare earths are out of the question. Power supplies on equipment and various raw materials will also be included... If strictly enforced, Japanese hospitals will face big trouble.
I rolled my eyes at Yahoo—still the same old story, nothing new, just the same three tricks: China has no technology, Japan can domestically produce; allied countries respond together, excluding China; China is only shooting itself in the foot. Japan bans semiconductor equipment and materials exports... not to mention that since the Diaoyu Islands crisis in 2012, Japan has been clamoring to break away from China, aiming for self-sufficiency in rare earths. Up to now, Japan still mainly imports rare earths from China. As for semiconductor equipment and materials, banning sales to China would indeed have an impact, but considering the US’s previous moves, China has endured them all, and the impact wouldn’t be greater than back then. Moreover, high-end process equipment is already not sold to China. #中东战争 #财经