GOOD MORNING FROM LONDON
26 JANUARY 2026. CHINA POST #609
CHINA AND THE FOREIGN MEDIA
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EXTRACTS
#1 GREENLAND’S HARSH ENVIRONMENT
#2 CHINA’S ECONOMY HITS 5% GROWTH TARGET FOR 2025
#3 CHINA-CANADA. SIGNIFICANT BREAKTHROUGH
#4 CHINA AND JACK PERRY – THE ULTRA-LEFT GRABS POWER DURING THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION
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#1 GREENLAND’S HARSH ENVIRONMENT
METALS WEEKLY
“Greenland’s harsh environment, lack of key infrastructure and difficult geology have so far prevented anyone from building a mine to extract the sought-after rare earth elements that many high-tech products require. Even if U.S. President Donald Trump prevails in his effort to take control of the Arctic island, those challenges won’t go away.
Trump has prioritized breaking China’s stranglehold on the global supply of rare earths ever since the world’s number two economy sharply restricted who could buy them after the United States imposed widespread tariffs last spring. The Trump administration has invested hundreds of millions of dollars and even taken stakes in several companies. Now the president is again pitching the idea that wresting control of Greenland away from Denmark could solve the problem
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS;-
Metals Weekly makes it clear “Greenland may not be able to produce rare earths for years — if ever.”
Trump’s fascination with the island nation may be more about countering Russian and Chinese influence in the Arctic than securing any of the hard-to-pronounce elements like neodymium and terbium that are used to produce the high-powered magnets needed in electric vehicles, wind turbines, robots and fighter jets among other products.
But Trump is posturing.
“The fixation on Greenland has always been more about geopolitical posturing — a military-strategic interest and stock-promotion narrative — than a realistic supply solution for the tech sector,” said Tracy Hughes, founder and executive director of the Critical Minerals Institute, has written “The hype far outstrips the hard science and economics behind these critical minerals.”
“Greenland is remote with few roads and no railways,” notes Diogo Rosa, an economic geology researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. Power would also have to be generated locally, and expert manpower would have to be brought in.
Another concern is the prospect of mining rare earths in the fragile Arctic environment just as Greenland tries to build a thriving tourism industry, said Patrick Schröder, a senior fellow in the Environment and Society program at the Chatham House think-tank in London. Rare Earths in Greenland are encased in a complex type of rock called eudialyte, and no one has ever developed a profitable process to extract rare earths from that type of rock.
Producing rare earths is a tough business. But that is only one half of the story. The rare earths still have to be processed and, currently, most of the world’s critical minerals (90%+) are processed in China and China will be determined to maintain its significant leading world role.
The U.S. is scrambling to expand the supply of rare earths outside of China during the one-year reprieve from even tougher restrictions that Trump said Xi Jinping agreed to in October. But as Scott Dunn, CEO of Noveon Magnetics, says “it’s hard to locate new sources of supply when China is responsible for more than 90% of available processed rare earths”.
China has significant leverage and the U.S. is fully aware of its vulnerability. The Power Balance Has Altered.
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#2 CHINA’S ECONOMY HITS 2025 5% GROWTH TARGET
NIKKEI ASIA
“China’s economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter of last year but was enough to meet the government’s annual target of “around 5%,” according to official figures, as strong exports offset weak investment and consumption.
Growth was driven by exports, which jumped 5.5% last year in dollar terms and outpaced flat imports, generating a record trade surplus of $1.2 trillion. Overseas shipments were resilient against higher U.S. tariffs as China boosted exports to markets across Southeast Asia, Europe and Africa.”
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS;-
Year-after-year for the last 25 years, China’s critics queue up to predict the imminent collapse of China’s economy. It’s their mind set. It’s their prejudice. Communist China is succeeding and the critics do not like it. They cannot come to terms with it. China is run by a Communist Party and history teaches us – the critics say – that Communist Parties the world over are top heavy, authoritarian and dominated by heavy industry.
Their narrative is wrong. China is not the USSR Mark 2. “Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” is not a Public Relations breakthrough. It is a Blueprint.
No country has studied the reasons for the failure of the USSR more intensively than China. Every research institute was given an aspect of Soviet society to study in depth and to provide reasons why that particular USSR sector failed. This intensive country wide post-mortem concluded that China had to adopt two key reforms;-
First, Centralise Party Authority
and,
Second, Decentralise the Economy.
Deng Hsiaoping “got it right”. Step back, embrace parts of the capitalist economic model and then go onto the front foot under the leadership of the Party. It worked and China began a Made in China policy which laid the foundations for today and Huawei, DeepSeek, Electric Cars, Wind Turbines and Solar Panels.
Some things went wrong – the property sector is the biggest example. And China will carry the pain for another ten years. Wage differentials are an unwelcome consequence of economic growth and raise the prospect of Class in New China. The decline in birth rate – not easy to re-position – conjures the possibility of an ageing population. Mistakes are inevitable – some due to errors in policy focus and some due to errors in Party management but the Chinese bureaucracy is not complacent.
The key is to ensure the right lessons are being learned. And here the Western critics do their best to stress the negatives and minimise the positives and thereby convey a problem dominated gloss. They want to believe the China Experiment Will Fail. That is their narrative, their purpose, and their reporting thrust. So be alert. Yes, question China’s pronouncements – that is a must. But realise that Western reporters generally do not like the idea that China will lead the world forward.
Back to the economy – China’s leaders are expected to unveil this year’s economic growth target at the annual National People’s Congress in early March. Economists expect exports to remain the primary engine this year after a trade truce with the U.S. cooled tensions between the rival superpowers.
One priority in China’s next five-year plan will be spurring household consumption, which at about 40% of GDP remains far lower than in most large economies. But economists expect the shift to be gradual, as it will require policies to boost disposable income for hundreds of millions of migrant workers who have moved from the countryside to cities.
So – is China beset with problems? Or is China prepared for the challenge initiated by Trump’s Tariffs? I know where my money is.
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#3 CHINA/CANADA RESET POST TRUMP
WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney took an important step toward reinvigorating his nation’s ties with China and diversifying its trade away from the U.S., as Beijing increasingly seeks to woo U.S. allies frustrated with American protectionism.
In a meeting with Carney on Friday at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Chinese leader Xi Jinping hailed the recent turnaround of relations with the U.S.’s northern neighbour, and both sides noted opportunities to bolster trade.
Carney, a former Goldman Sachs dealmaker and central banker in Canada and the U.K., has argued that his country’s longstanding, close economic relationship with the U.S. is now over as President Trump imposes tariffs and other obstacles. That requires, Carney said, Canada to build deeper ties with other markets.”
GRAHAM PERRY COMMENTS;-
Politics do change. New priorities come into view and trigger a re-arrangement of alliances.
More specifically, when it comes to China there are far fewer references today to “de-coupling” and “de-risking”. Carney was in Beijing last week taking big steps to strengthen Canade-China trade. Starmer will do the same when he visits China at the end of this month.
Surprised? No. It was bound to happen. Not as a reaction against Trump but because China cannot be avoided or resisted or marginalised. Since 1979 China has been on a long-term path of development but the world has been slow to recognise its significance. Now Western leaders are Beating A Path To Beijing.
Mark Carney told Xi Jinping: “Together we can build on the best of what this relationship has been in the past to create a new one adapted to new global realities,”. Key in the new global realities is bringing China in from the cold.
Guard against naivety, however, China/Canada two-way trade over the past 12 months is about $80 billion – much smaller than the approximate $1 trillion in U.S.-Canada commerce over the same period. But something significant is underway. The two countries are ready to stabilize ties after years of tensions that date from Canada’s 2018 arrest, on a U.S. extradition request, of a senior Huawei Technologies executive, Meng Wanzhou.
As to specifics, China’s ambassador to Canada has said Beijing would remove a 76% tariff on canola seed in exchange for Canada abandoning its 100% tariff on Chinese EVs.
The world is always changing – sometimes significantly and today is just such an occasion. The emergence of China has real long-term significance. It will be difficult to turn off the tap. There is momentum. But Trump is also a factor. His MAGA policy – invested with considerable and repeated egotistical commitment – will have an impact upon world trade. China, previously shunned, will now be embraced – and not just for the short term as former close allies of the U.S. cast around for new and durable trade and investment relationships. Canada today. Who tomorrow?
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PART 30 – CHINA AND JACK PERRY
BY GRAHAM PERRY
THE ULTRA-LEFT GRABS POWER IN THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION
Part 29 of China and Jack Perry concluded as follows;-
“The full story of the Cultural Revolution is known within the Party and many of the people celebrated when the Gang of Four – Jiang Ching, Chiang Chunchiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hungwen – were arrested, tried and imprisoned. But the struggle is not over. In China today there are idealists who see the rise of the Billionaires and the emergence of wage differentials as evidence that China is slipping back – sacrificing the ideals of a classless society for the creation of a consumerist society. And this remains a proper subject for discussion among the people at large and that debate will continue whilst the Billionaires continue to play a significant role in China’s attempts to achieve Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.”
Back to 1966 and the announcement on the 1 May of “The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” as it was officially designated. It was accompanied by the arrest of a number of leading members of the Party – including President Liu Shaochi and Party General Secretary Deng Hsiaoping – and the adoption of a new political line from Beijing that emphasised Class Struggle in China at the expense of Prosperity and Economic Growth.
Back in the mid-1960’s the world’s media did not pay much attention to developments in China. It was an economic backwater far removed from the pulsating China of today. No newspapers had journalists of note stationed in the country. Communications were rudimentary. Long distance phone calls were few and had to be booked well in advance. There were no mobile phones, no laptops or handheld computers. Television coverage was administered by China’s CCTV. There was no English language newspaper – the China Daily did not exist. And travel in China was restricted to a handful of cities. Many bicycles, few cars and no skyscrapers. It was a quite different country from what it is today.
Back to the Politics because this was the priority, and information filtered out in piecemeal form. Jack continued to go to China and was treated to lengthy political discussions with Chinese colleagues in the Communist Party and at the grass roots. He began to hear much about Class Struggle and the need to “Bombard the Headquarters of the Liu-Deng Line”– identified as the two leading supporters of the Capitalist Restoration Movement – Liu Shaochi and Deng Hsiaoping. Schools and Universities came to a halt as traditional subjects of study were sidelined; the emphasis was on the need to introduce a new political policy based on a fundamental change in priorities.
Students were encouraged not just to ask question but to demand answers. Intolerance became the norm as Left Leaders urged the newly organised Red Guards to call their teachers to account. And this was not some academic exercise but a determined attempt to oust from power, influence and leadership within Schools and Universities those individuals speedily identified as Class Enemies. This was no Debating Society or Search for Academic Truth. It was more sinister.
The Protagonists were inspired. The Red Book of Mao’s quotations was waved as a Badge of Orthodoxy. “Power Grows Out of the Barrel of the Gun”, “The Working Class Must Exercise Leadership Everywhere” “Expose the Capitalist-Roaders”. The Red Guards, encouraged by Mao (I will discuss the role of Zhou Enlai in future Parts) were emboldened. They were encouraged to see themselves as the Protectors of the Revolution with freedom to travel the length and breadth of the country motivated by A Misplaced Mission To Save China From The Capitalists.
There was violence. Much violence. People were killed. Some were executed. Some committed suicide. The numbers were not small. China was gripped by Mania – Madness is not too strong a word. The Leadership had fallen into the wrong hands – the Ultra Left was on the front foot. They were obsessive, devoid of reason, motivated by a determination “to cleanse China of class enemies”. And they were intolerant in dealing with their opponents. The pre-1966 leadership was on the back foot. Chaos prevailed. Opponents of the new regime – including Xi Jinping – were condemned to years of menial work in the countryside. Some survived but many fell victim to the madness masquerading as deeply committed Marxism.
Two points – was there a coherent explanation for the Left’s position? Was their method in their madness? A case can be cobbled together and it goes like this;-
In October 1949 the Communist Party consolidated their success in leading the revolution by inaugurating the People’s Republic of China. It ushered in a quite new period of Change in the New China. It was led by the Party committed to the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin and the construction of a new Socialist State – itself not an end in itself but a halfway house to the creation of a classless Communist Society. Change was an ever-present as the Party sought to convert the Feudal-Capitalist Society of the Kuomintang into a Communist Society of the Party. And here a battle was commenced within the Communist Party.
There were two groups. A Left Group that wanted to maintain the momentum of change and accelerate the bringing about of a classless Communist Society in China. However, they made two mistakes. They were in a hurry and they were wrong. The setting up of the Rural Communes in the mid 1950’s was rushed through and quickly antagonised the mass of peasants that formed the numerical core of the New China. The Great Leap Forward of the late 1950S was a vain and unsuccessful attempt to accelerate economic growth. China was making mistakes and it encouraged an early embrace of the Left Policies of the Cultural Revolution especially because they carried the publicly stated support of the Chairman himself. Mao was on board with the Left and its core policy of “Politics In Command”. The momentum towards Communism and the dismantling of class structures was accelerated but it brought chaos and disenchantment not stability and progress.
Schools were closed. Universities too. A generation was deprived of a university education. Friends of China who lived and worked in Beijing were arrested and accused of being spies. Their detention was harsh and their children left to fend for themselves. Jumping to the end, a famous event was held at the Beijing Hotel in 1974 for foreign experts who had been detained during the Cultural Revolution. It was hosted by Premier Zhou Enlai and amounted to an apology for their ill treatment at the hands of the Chinese authorities – the Shapiros, the Crooks, the Shulmans, and the Rittenbergs were among the guests who were identified for special thanks. The Chinese knew they had got things terribly wrong and this Tea Party was a brave attempt by Zhou to right a wrong. ‘Brave’ because Zhou went against the prevailing orthodoxy of the Gang of Four who were maintained in office due to the protection of Mao Tsetung. Zhou’s Tea Party was superseded by a more fulsome apology that was made by the Party after the arrest of the Gang of Four in October 1976.
There are questions that need to be addressed. What was the role of Mao? What happened to the Gang of Four and their supporters? And most important of all – How was Deng Hsioping able to survive and initiate the far reaching changes that have propelled China to be on the verge of becoming in 2026 the largest economy in the world?
In October 1976 China was on its knees, ravaged by a Civil War and between the Gang on one side and Deng on the other. Marxism and Socialism were at a low ebb. The People were demoralised and disenchanted. It really was a case of “Cometh The Hour. Cometh The Man”. But the Questions First;-
- What was Mao’s role in the Cultural Revolution?
- How damaged was China by the Cultural Revolution?
- What did people in the U.K. understand about the Cultural Revolution?
- What was Jack Perry’s attitude to the Cultural Revolution?
GRAHAM PERRY
