America Must Cut Its Reliance on China—Now

David Sauer

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China dominates the rare earth industry—and has shown it is willing to weaponize its market power to wring concessions from its competitors. America needs a way to fight back.

This week, Xi Jinping will host Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un at a major military parade in Beijing, highlighting a growing axis between China, Russia and North Korea—and reminding American strategists that even as America’s strategic rivals are coming together abroad, the United States remains dangerously dependent on them for its supply chains at home.

There is no question that China, now emboldened by visible shows of geopolitical unity with Russia and North Korea, represents the most significant national security threat to the United States. America must therefore rapidly become strategically independent from the Chinese in critical technologies and commodities, as well as offer alternative products to compete against China. Washington needs to ensure that it has secure and unfettered access to important equipment and materials—especially in the realm of telecommunications, semiconductors, rare earth minerals, and pharmaceuticals—to ensure it does not rely at all on the Chinese Communist Party.

America Needs Domestic Competitors to Huawei

Recognizing the strategic importance of cutting-edge technologies, the Chinese have sought to dominate the telecommunications and networking equipment sector. Through the Chinese state-owned firm Huawei, the Chinese government has maintained artifically low prices, among other tactics, with an eye towards infiltrating Huawei-made equipment into 5G and networking infrastructure throughout the globe.

The first Trump administration wisely banned the use of Huawei equipment in the United States, designated Huawei as a Chinese military company, and spent considerable time and resources to persuade US allies and partners of the intelligence threat posed by using Huawei equipment in their networks. The United States rightly highlighted the potential for back doors that Huawei and China by extension would be poised to exploit to steal data and secrets.