The US wants to decouple its military supplies from China – but can it?
- China’s key role in global supply chains means it will be a real challenge to stop using all the materials and components it produces to make weapons
China’s central role in the global supply chain has prompted the United States to initiate a series of measures to de-risk its relationship with the world’s second largest economy as relations worsen.
For the US defence industry, it seems inevitable that Washington will want to go further and seek to cut out China completely.
Whether it will work is another question, though. China now plays a central role in the global economy as a leading producer of everything from the raw materials used to make basic equipment and rare earth metals to the hi-tech equipment that is vital to the production of some of America’s most advanced weapons.
When it comes to global arms exports, China accounts for a relatively modest 6.6 per cent of the market, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
But because China accounts for 20 per cent of total global manufacturing trade, according to Beijing’s own figures, the picture is very different when looking at the components used to make weapons.
