David Fickling

JUST how little diesel can China get away with using? We are in the process of finding out. The country's refineries produced just 12.9 million tonnes of the fuel in June.

If filling up your car isn't even more expensive in the coming months, you should thank China's abandoned building sites, says David Fickling for Bloomberg Opinion.

The archetypal metaphor for a fuel industry in crisis was hatched 53 years ago, during the 1973 Arab oil embargo: Endless lines at filling stations, drivers hoarding gasoline, fights breaking out over people jumping the queue.

THE archetypal metaphor for a fuel industry in crisis was hatched 53 years ago, during the 1973 Arab oil embargo: Endless lines at filling stations, drivers hoarding gasoline, fights breaking out over people jumping the queue.

Every time China tightens its grip on rare earths, the rest of the world becomes a little better at finding them.

The imposition of rare-earth export controls by China is sparking an unexpected global movement toward industry independence. This escalating international effort is poised to increase the supply of these crucial minerals significantly. New findings of ionic-absorption clay deposits across four continents are fueling this shift. Additionally, companies are setting up processing plants outside China, signaling a noteworthy decline in Chinese preeminence over rare earth resources.

Rare-earth permanent magnets — which help stick charging cables to laptops, clamp mobile phones to mounting devices, and click earbuds into their

EVERY time China tightens its grip on rare earths, the rest of the world becomes a little better at finding them.

China's control of the world's rare-earth supply chain was okay till it decided to weaponize it against its geo-economic rivals. Several of these minerals are no longer in Beijing's clutch and some others look set to escape as other countries get into the act.

A circumspect general is always preparing for the next war, not the last one. That shows you where foreign automakers have been going wrong in China.