United States never thought that its little brother would not only rebel in the nest, but also help his opponent to give himself a dull stick. Due to its lack of popularity in NATO for many years and its delay in integrating into the European "circle of friends", Turkey recently officially proposed to apply to join the BRICS organization led by China and Russia. Not to mention, Turkey is also ready to send a big gift to China, inviting China to cooperate in the development of the country's rare earth resources, which makes United States seem to be dumb and can't say what is bitter.
First of all, Turkey's application to join the BRICS is a completely forced choice. As a country straddling Eurasia, Turkey has always wanted to join the European Union, and has been waiting for 36 years to join the European Union since 1987. However, European countries have always rejected Turkey and have no intention of opening the door to the European Union, plus Turkey is also angry everywhere within NATO, because of the bad relations with Greece and frequent contacts with Russia, Turkey once encountered sanctions from its ally United States. Since then, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has finally made the decision to become the first NATO member in the world to apply for membership.
For Turkey, joining the BRICS does not mean breaking with the West, Erdogan's real purpose is to use the BRICS countries to put pressure on the West, and then take the opportunity to revitalize Turkey's economy by exploring other multilateral platforms and finding new possibilities for trade cooperation.
Turkey has been mired in an inflation crisis in recent years, and in May this year, Turkey was close to a peak of 75%, while the International Monetary Fund predicts that Turkey's inflation rate will reach 38% by the end of this year, which will be the sixth highest inflation rate in the world. The BRICS organization has a vast market and countless development opportunities, which are crucial to saving Turkey's economy from collapse. After Turkey submitted its application, Russia, with which it has deep contacts, expressed its support and welcome, while China did not rush to express its position. The reason is simple, Turkey's foreign policy has always been between major powers, and the mainland is also worried that Turkey's application to join the BRICS is a speculative act. In order to prevent Turkey from becoming a second India, China naturally has to stay on the sidelines.
As the initiator and leader of the BRICS organization, China's opinion decision is crucial. Although the application for joining the BRICS has not yet landed, in order to show its sincerity of cooperation, Turkey took the lead in sending a "big gift" to China on the rare earth mining project. As early as two years ago, 694 million tonnes of rare earth element reserves were discovered in Turkey, including 17 different rare earth endemic elements. At this scale, Turkey will become the world's second-largest rare earth reserve country. It is reported that the Turkey government has invited China to participate in the development project, and then leverage China to become a "rare earth industry power".
China is the only country in the world that can supply a large number of rare earth products of various grades and specifications, and it is also the only country with a complete industrial chain of rare earths. China ranks first in the world in rare earth reserves and production, and its processing and refining volume accounts for nearly 90% of the global market share. It is based on this background that Turkey not only releases a cooperation signal to China, but also hopes to lay a good foundation for Turkey's rare earth industry chain with the help of China's industrial strength. Especially in the combination of rare earth industry, electric vehicles and renewable energy industries, Turkey is planning a larger industrial blueprint.
According to a report by the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China's lithium-ion battery production and production capacity rank first in the world, and 70% of the world's lithium-ion batteries and 99% of lithium iron phosphate cathode materials are produced by Chinese enterprises. Once the cooperation between China and Turkey fully develops Turkey's huge rare earth resources, its electric vehicle industry and renewable energy industry will develop rapidly, thereby driving the local economy and solving the employment problem, Turkey will benefit greatly in many fields.
At the same time, with the help of Turkey, the mainland can not only further control the discourse power of the global rare earth supply chain, completely cut off the idea of the United States and Western countries looking for a "third-party market", but also take this opportunity to avoid EU tariff barriers. Previously, both United States and the European Union imposed tariffs on China's electric vehicle industry, and Turkey special geographical location makes it an important bridge connecting Europe and Asia, and friendly cooperation with Turkey is expected to become a key point for Chinese car companies to "break the game" of the EU's high tariff policy for Chinese-made electric vehicles. According to the latest regulations, car manufacturers who invest and set up factories in Turkey only need to pay a 10% tariff. At present, BYD plans to invest about 1 billion US dollars to build a factory in Turkey, and at the same time, Turkey's energy minister will lead a delegation to China in October this year to negotiate with China. At that time, the rare earth industry cooperation will be an opportunity, and the far-reaching cooperation between China and Turkey in a series of projects will be enough to keep United States politicians awake at night and unable to sleep.