China Using Coercion in Bid to Gain Upper Hand in Trump-Xi Talks: House China Panel Chair

WASHINGTON—China is trying every means—including coercion—to gain bargaining leverage in the upcoming talks with the United States, according to the House China committee chair. “They are putting every bit of leverage on the table so that in a negotiation, they can, in some way, relent in a small way and still keep their negotiated gains,” Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), who leads the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, told The Epoch Times on EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” show. Particularly revealing were the sweeping rare earth controls that China imposed on Oct. 9, said Moolenaar. Beijing mines two-thirds of the global rare earth elements and holds over 90 percent of the processing capacity. These are critical for powering modern technologies such as televisions, phones, computers, and defense systems, making the move highly disruptive....