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title: "Timeline photos Why did China wait until now to cut the US off from…"
date: 2025-10-31
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships added a new photo.
---

# Timeline photos Why did China wait until now to cut the US off from…

*October 31, 2025 · Facebook*

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![](img/2025-10-31-fb-003-img01.webp){style="max-width:100%; margin:1em 0"}
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Why did China wait until now to cut the US off from rare earth elements? Because they hadn\'t yet freed themselves from dependence on US helium.\
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\"\...until 2022 China imported 95% of its helium and most of it was controlled by the US. Of the world\'s ten largest helium producers, four were American companies, and the remaining six all used American technology.\
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Helium isn\'t just a party balloons gas: it has plenty of industrial applications for things such as quantum computing, rocket technology, MRI machines, as a coolant for chip lithography equipment, etc.\
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\...with helium the US had an even stronger card to play if China ever used the rare earths card.\
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This raised huge alarm bells inside China.\
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So over the past few years there were gigantic efforts in China to break the \"helium shackles\...The result: by the end of 2024 China had cut its helium dependence on the US to less than 5%\...The \"helium shackles\" were broken\...\"\
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