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Amber Wang

More than 80 years ago, high above the jagged peaks of the Himalayas, American and Chinese pilots braved the perilous “Hump” air route from India to China.
They flew weapons, fuel and medical supplies into China to support its fight against Japan during World War II.
They returned with Chinese strategic minerals – including tungsten and tin – that fed Allied weapons factories and helped secure victory.
That wartime cooperation between China and the United States was a two-way lifeline, forged out of shared necessity.
Now, as the two powers navigate tensions over rare earths and advanced technology, the wartime bond offers a striking contrast – and perhaps a lesson – for their fraught relationship today, according to a leading Chinese historian.
“The lesson here is that we should cooperate because it benefits everyone,” said Li Xuetong, a researcher with the Institute of Modern History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Li was speaking on the sidelines of a conference on China’s war of resistance held at Peking University in Beijing on Sunday.
“World War II was not only a military confrontation between the Allied and Axis powers but also a global contest of resources and industrial capacity,” said Li, noting China’s strategic minerals trade at that time.
China’s export of strategic minerals – which Li called a “metallic bond” with the Soviet Union and the US during the war – played an important role in Allied weapons production and industrial output.
According to Li, that contribution helped the countries secure their ultimate victory in the global fight against fascism.
China was rich in mineral resources but had a weak industrial base during the war, he said, explaining that the vast majority of the minerals were exported as repayment for foreign loans.
The US, as the largest military-industrial power during World War II, relied heavily on imports for many strategic minerals, he added.
The situation resembles America’s current dependence on rare earths, which are vital for weapons production, electric vehicles and semiconductors.
Li noted that China became a key supplier of tin and tungsten to the US. He said that from 1942 to 1945, American imports from China accounted for about 20 to 30 per cent of its total tungsten imports and 15 to 20 per cent of its overseas tin purchases.
Meanwhile, authorised by its 1941 Lend-Lease Act, the US provided vast amounts of strategic aid to China and other Allied nations, including weapons, fuel and medical supplies.
“This strategic resource collaboration among the Allies was based on mutual need and reciprocal benefit,” Li said. “China needed weapons and equipment from the Soviet Union and the United States to resist Japanese aggression, while the Allies relied on China’s strategic minerals to sustain their war production.”
Those efforts could offer a lesson for today’s Sino-US rivalry, as rare earths had a similar strategic value in the global supply chain.
By 1962, China’s production of tungsten – a metal used to increase the hardness of steel for the production of shells and battleship decks – already accounted for 65.3 per cent of the world’s total output, according to Li.
At present, China dominates the world’s supply of rare earths, mining 70 per cent of global output and handling 90 per cent of chemical processing.


Li said China was able to contribute in the past because of its low industrial base and “strategic minerals could not be industrially utilised, so they could only be exported as raw resources”.
Rare earths have emerged as a flashpoint in Sino-US trade relations since Donald Trump’s second presidential term began in January.
On October 9, China announced fresh restrictions on rare earth exports. The announcement followed US moves to add thousands of Chinese companies to an entity list, restricting the technology those firms are allowed to buy.
The controls were due to take effect on November 1, but China suspended them for a year following last week’s summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. After the summit, Trump said there was “no roadblock at all” on rare earths.
Li said that historically, during good political relations, “strategic minerals were not an issue” but that when ties soured, the commodities “inevitably became a kind of leverage, to some extent, even being weaponised”.
For instance, Li said, China had been a major supplier of strategic minerals such as tungsten and antimony to Germany until the Marco Polo Bridge incident on July 7, 1937, which marked Japan’s full-scale invasion of China.
China later terminated the trade with Germany, which soon after became an Axis power along with Japan and Italy.
Now, the US is diversifying its supply chains and seeking to reduce dependence on China, similar to the end of World War II when the US developed alternative sources of strategic minerals after supplies from the mainland dwindled.
“Nothing is absolute, and the long-term effectiveness of using mineral resources as leverage is limited,” said Li, noting that the US turned to South America for “alternative source development” in strategic minerals during the latter stages of World War II.
In recent months, the Trump administration has sought to cut dependence on China by planning to establish a strategic reserve of rare earths and support domestic producers through price controls and tariffs.
At a meeting in Toronto on Friday, Group of Seven energy ministers agreed to establish a critical minerals production alliance.
The plans include more than two dozen new investments and partnerships to accelerate and unlock C$6.4 billion (US$4.56 billion) in critical mineral projects.
The G7 – comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US – also pledged up to C$20.2 million for international research and development collaboration on these commodities.


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A Curtiss C-46 Commando, an American twin-engined aircraft, flies over the “Hump” air route across the Himalayas during World War II. Photo: US Air Force

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Past cooperation when US and Allied forces used Chinese strategic minerals shows how everyone could benefit, according to historian


Past cooperation when US and Allied forces used Chinese strategic minerals shows how everyone could benefit, according to historian.


‘Metallic’ China-US bond in World War II offers lesson for today, analyst says

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Past cooperation when US and Allied forces used Chinese strategic minerals shows how everyone could benefit, according to historian

Past cooperation when US and Allied forces used Chinese strategic minerals shows how everyone could benefit, according to historian