Ah yes! I forgot about the rare earth. That makes the best little electric motor going, most efficient. I use two, rare motor driven hydraulic pump sets in my boat for autopilot steering. There are really good. But you are right, let the Chinese lay claim to a few uninteresting islands and then the surrounding sea goes with, as well as the Sea bed.
I watched the video. It says that due to cheaper labor, China now dominates the world rare earth market. The video says nothing about any military. But in this thread, Marzul, who didn't watch the video, says the video somehow proves that 50,000 American troops are needed in Japan. How about explaining how, if China withheld sales to us, those troops could force China to pay its labor more, so that China wouldn't dominate the world rare earth market? Ridiculous. Your video says the Chinese mineral source is under Chinese land, not under the sea, and says nothing about any use of the U.S. military to force China to sell it to us.
Disputes over the South China Sea and the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) continue unabated, and most East and Southeast Asian countries have taken some kind of position on the issue. Academics and experts have expressed opinions based on fishing grounds, energy resources and territorial sovereignty. However, there is another key strategic resource in dispute — the undersea reserves of rare earths. China has long been aware of the strategic value of these metals. At present, 95 percent of the global supply of rare earths mined on land comes from China. The late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) once declared that, while the Middle East has oil, China has rare earths, and he suggested that China could strictly control the export and supply of these minerals, as OPEC does with oil. Rare earths on the seabed appear in the form of polymetallic nodules, also called manganese nodules. These so-called “black pearls” may contain more than 60 metallic elements. It is estimated that reserves of such metals in the Pacific Ocean alone can meet demand for 600 years or more. Since the 1980s, countries that are capable of deep-sea exploration, such as the US, Japan, France and Germany, have been competing to explore the seabed. Last year Japan budgeted ￥6.8 billion (about US$86 million) to explore the seabed around Minami Torishima, or Marcus Island, which lies about 2,000km southeast of Tokyo. A report published by University of Tokyo associate professor Yasuhiro Kato in July last year says that a team of Japanese scientists has discovered an area rich in rare earths in the Pacific Ocean between longitudes 120 and 180 degrees east. They estimate that this area of seabed contains 80 billlion to 100 billion tonnes of such minerals — much more than the figure of 110 million tonnes given by the US Geological Survey for confirmed global reserves. Over the past few years, China’s self-built manned submersible Jiaolong has been tested at progressively greater depths. In July 2010, it reached a depth of 3,759m in the South China Sea, and its crew members staked a claim by planting China’s national flag on the seabed. Last month, the Jiaolong reached a depth of 7,015m in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. The Jiaolong’s most important function may be prospecting for undersea rare earths. Last month, China’s State Oceanic Administration director Liu Cigui (劉賜貴) said that between 2001 and last year, China had successfully applied to the International Seabed Authority for exclusive exploration rights and priority commercial mining rights for two zones of seabed where polymetallic nodules are present. These two zones measure 75,000km2 and 10,000km2 — which, together, is nearly twice the surface area of China’s Hainan Island. Liu said that one of the main purposes of the Jiaolong’s deep-sea test dives was to discover what metallic minerals are to be found there. All this may explain why Japan attaches so much importance to its territorial claim over the Okinotorishima coral reefs, while China refuses to recognize Japan’s claim and has held several naval maneuvers nearby. Rare-earth reserves may also exist near Taiwan-controlled Taiping Island (太平島) in the South China Sea and the Diaoyutai Islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China, among others, and the value of such mineral deposits might be equivalent to tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars per capita in Taiwan. If so, one wonders how hard Taiwan’s government will fight to defend its claim over these islands. Read more here - http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2012/07/20/2003538168 Or you could Google it - https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=south china sea rare earth
MarAzul said nothing of the kind. He never uses the term. We have Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Army personnel, like Rangers, 1st ID, 3rd ID. Note the A in MarAzul as in Mar Azul. Blue Sea.
Post numbers 49, 51, and 53: You responded to 3Brainiac's post in which he referred to "50k" "troops" in Japan.
Okay, so you admit that your video was about minerals under the ground, not under the sea, so you had to look up a different article about minerals under the sea. I accept your unstated, unadulterated apology. Do not adulterate again. Now as for your new source, the article. It says there are minerals undersea in disputed territory around some Japanese islands. So I guess you're inferring that someday, China may run out of the minerals under its vast land, and fight a war with American forces at Okinawa to do some high tech underwater mining. But there are vast oceans around the world, full of minerals, which are clearly in undisputed international waters. Why wouldn't China just mine there first? This fantasy nuclear war over mining around Okinawa is at least a century or two away. Why not bring home the Okinawa troops on R&R for a century and then bring them back? They can fill up their time making up justifications for Okinawa.
I posted the video to help show the importance and use of rare earth elements. It also shows China's extreme interest to dominate this market. Also it showed that due to lack of foresight there isn't an "american rare earth mineral consortium." The story aired just last week and I thought it was interesting. I provided you with a link to read other articles on this subject.
Do the rare earth minerals survive a nuke attack? We're going to just go and take it with our Navy or something, right?
