Is China making a rare earth power play?

[Modbert]

Is China making a rare earth power play? | FP Passport

At one point in Diamonds Are Forever, the 1971 James Bond thriller, Agent 007 asks the villain, who has covertly amassed a stockpile of valuable gems: "What do you intend to do with those diamonds?"

"An excellent question," the evil criminal mastermind, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, replies with a diabolical grin. "And one which will be hanging on the lips of the world quite soon." Bond gets his answer quickly enough: a satellite-rigged laser powerful enough to hold the world hostage.

Hu Jintao is no Blofeld, but if Chinese leaders are trying to provide a readymade plot for the next Bond film, they may have succeeded with today's news that China has quietly begun blocking Japan's supply of rare earth elements, used in everything from Priuses and iPads to wind turbines, oil refineries, and smart bombs.

Such a move, which Chinese officials have denied, would represent a sharp, sudden escalation in the ongoing diplomatic dispute between China and Japan over an island chain in the East China Sea. Real or imagined, the threat is credible, and it's been a long time coming.

A lot more to read after the jump. A interesting turn of events in this ongoing saga that is certainly to have larger implications going forward.

The U.S certainly needs to get moving on catching up to China, especially before it's too late.

 

[goldcatt]

I'm sure the Aussies on the board could tell you how the Chinese have been quietly and not so quietly hogging up mineral resources of all kinds for years now. I wasn't aware of just how strong their monopoly on REMs was though.

Considering how dependent we and all developed nations are on these materials, the article's suggestion of a national stockpile is a good idea and one that needs to be done sooner rather than later. I doubt our own resources will be cost-effective to exploit until and unless the Chinese force our hands, and if that were to happen we'll need access to resources while our own firms are just getting online - assuming they ever would.

Our lack of self-sufficiency in so many areas is worrisome to me. From energy to sovereign debt to manufacturing to to raw materials - there are so many potential national security implications in all of these it's troublesome to think we're doing nothing about it. And most of those we're dependent on aren't exactly renowned for their sense of fair play.