China and the Geopolitics of Rare Earths

Rare earths are essential for high-tech products, but China has dominated the industry since the 1990s. In 2010, China limited exports to Japan, the US, and Europe, causing a global crisis. This book argues that the crisis raises questions about China's economic statecraft and highlights the need for sustainable production outside of China.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 256 pages
Publication date: 30 September 2021
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc

Rare earths are elements that are found in the Earth's crust and are essential for the production of a wide range of high-tech, defense, and green technologies, including iPhones, medical technologies, wind turbines, energy-efficient lighting, smart bombs, and submarines. While they are not particularly rare in availability, they are difficult and expensive to mine. However, China has managed to gain control over an estimated 97 percent of the rare earth industry since the 1990s through cheap production, high export taxes, and artificial limitations of supply. This monopoly became international news after China unofficially curtailed exports to Japan, the United States, and Europe in 2010. This embargo followed a collision between Chinese and Japanese boats in the East China Sea, a locus of geopolitical and economic tension between the two countries. Although the World Trade Organization forced China to scrap its restrictions, it still holds a stranglehold over these elements that are so critical to the economic and security interests of the United States and its allies.

In this book, Sophia Kalantzakos argues that the 2010 rare earth crisis signaled more than just a trade dispute. Rather, it raises questions about China's use of economic statecraft and must be regarded as a part of the larger discourse of global power relations. Importantly, she also argues that the failure of political actors in major industrial nations to enact comprehensive and effective policy solutions or the scientific and business communities to devise sustainable rare earth production outside of China points to future resource competition.

Weight: 416g
Dimension: 392 x 407 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780197598740