Key ingredients needed for a recipe of war.

Wow, this is big: China just announced a prohibition of "dual-use items" to "U.S. military users" and a complete ban in principle of export licenses of "dual-use items related to gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States" (source: https://mofcom.gov.cn/zwgk/zcfb/art/2024/art_3d5e990b43424e60828030f58a547b60.html)

The U.S. has been sanctioning or otherwise criticizing China for years around the export of "dual-use items" so it sounds like Beijing went like "So you're saying we shouldn't export dual-use items for military applications? You sure? Ok then..."

This ironically makes it quite hard for the U.S. to criticize without sounding hypocritical: what's good for the goose should theoretically be good for the gander...

Complete translation of China's press release on this:

"In accordance with the Export Control Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and regulations, to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations related to non-proliferation, it has been decided to strengthen export controls on relevant dual-use items to the United States. The relevant matters are announced as follows:
1. Export of dual-use items to U.S. military users or for military purposes is prohibited.
2. In principle, export licenses will not be granted for dual-use items related to gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the United States; for graphite dual-use items exported to the United States, stricter end-user and end-use reviews will be implemented.

Organizations and individuals from any country or region who violate the above provisions by transferring or providing relevant dual-use items originating from the People's Republic of China to U.S. organizations and individuals will be held legally accountable according to law."

https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1863878202390946246