黑道白道实为无间道
The white and black street are the same thing
They have absurd names, cacophonous and
unpronounceable, are 17; or better to specify Scandium and Yttrium + 15 other
items belonging to the family of lanthanides such as Promethium, Dysprosium,
Lutetium, Europium, Gadolinium.
Not all know that they exist but,
especially in the West, in the world of consumerism, all of us use them every
day. I'm talking about the rare earths elements, those minerals that are found
in nature and have particular chemical characteristics
The largest producer in the world in terms
of extractive capacity is, to date, the Republic of China, with about 45% of
the total availability. Obviously, in this context, in the context of market
economy, the PRC acts in a regulated international market taking advantage of its
position connected to the extraction
capacity. The know-how and the capacity of influencing global price are both economic
factors being part of a specific geopolitical dossier, such as that of the gas
or the capacity of purchasing foreign
debts.
In this context, it is clear that the
government has the predominant interest of manage this dossier without any
interference due to the fact that it falls within the perspective of national
security.
So far everything seems to fall in the
canons of the normal prerogatives of each sovereign state, but going deeper on
this interesting topic it turns out that the Chinese government has a problem:
the alleged interference of organized crime, corrupting public officials
appointed to manage mining of rare earths elements, competes with the central
power. Inviting to pay attention to the doubtful formula I used deliberately: alleged.
That China has a crime problem is well known but that the Chinese government
will denounce the capacity of organized crime to conduct such a business was
least expected. Even more ironic is the fact that led to the discovery of the
interest for this criminal business. In fact, at the central level "...
have become realized ..." at some point that does not add up; in 2010, the
quotas set for the extraction of 89,200 tons were extracted but it turned out
about 119, why? The culprit was appointed to be of course the organized crime operating in the regions of
extraction capable to corrupt of local
officials and thus play an extractive illegal smuggling illegal smuggling of the product. The
issue has forced the central government to announce measures against corruption
that till now we do not know if and how much has been effective.
To what extent is it possible that the
reading of the facts is this? This is the question to fully assess the news
itself.
Of course we know that this is a very
sensitive issue and, as I said - strategic - so it cannot be treated lightly;
we know that a strongly authoritarian regime has in the exercise of
administrative structures thorough its control his real strength; yet we know
that the PRC is linked in the field of rare earths elements by international
trade agreements within the W.T.O. framework that also bind to the fulfillment of
existing contracts; we know that the economic policy of “cap and trade” favors
the limitation of the good circulation in order to act on the price; and
finally we know, and who has not thought about this aspect it is good to do it
early, the Chinese security services are among the most efficient in the world
and therefore cannot underestimate this issue.
All this being said, do we still believe
that the local organized crime has been able, although in agreement with
corrupt officials, to managing extraction from mine sites, processing of raw
material, placing on the market and the transfer abroad of tons of these
minerals?
It 'obvious that organized crime has
played a role but not the one presented by Chinese authorities.
The organized crime in this case seems to
have been a reasonably actor serving the higher interests - and of course
unmentionable – for the state (cfr. Machiavelli). It is at least unlikely that
the central government had been unaware of what was happening in the mining
areas, it is more logical to think that organized crime was using as a
scapegoat on which to impose the large production surplus in excess of the
amount agreed at the international level in order to not shake off the price
torn to buyers.
In this case, and once again, it is clear
that the states, and all states without exception, need organized crime.
Everything depends on the circumstances.
