China’s supply chain problems

They exist in manufacturing too, and perhaps this should help you feel a little better about American problems:

A January 2024 report on China’s wind power sector by researchers at Tsinghua University found that it remained heavily dependent on imports for crucial parts — including 60 per cent of the bearings that support their rotors, 70 per cent of the transistor modules used to convert power into grid-compliant electric current, and 100 per cent of logic modules used to control turbines in real time…

Consider lithium, cobalt, and manganese, three minerals used heavily in electric car btteries. The Chinese shares of global refining for these materials is overwhelming…But far smaller amounts of the raw materials come from mines in China – just 22 per cent, 3 percent and 4 per cent, respectively.

That is from Simon Mundy at the FT.