Rare Earth Minerals
Rare earth minerals are a group of 17 metallic elements — including neodymium, dysprosium, terbium, and lanthanum — that are essential for manufacturing electric vehicles, wind turbines, semiconductors, guided missiles, and advanced military hardware. Despite their name, they are not particularly rare in the Earth's crust, but are rarely found in economically viable concentrations. China currently controls approximately 60-85% of global rare earth production and 85-90% of processing capacity, giving it an effective monopoly over the raw materials of the 21st-century technology and defense industries.
The 17 rare earth elements (REEs) are the 15 lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium. They have unique magnetic, luminescent, and electrochemical properties that make them irreplaceable in a range of critical technologies: neodymium and dysprosium are used in the permanent magnets that power EV motors and wind turbine generators; europium and terbium are used in LED lighting and display screens; cerium is used in catalytic converters; lanthanum in camera lenses and night-vision goggles; and yttrium in jet engine alloys and radar systems.
China's dominance in rare earths is not accidental. Deng Xiaoping reportedly said in the 1980s: 'The Middle East has oil, China has rare earths.' China spent decades building processing infrastructure — the smelting, separation, and refining capacity that converts raw ore into usable materials — while Western countries allowed their own industries to close in the face of cheaper Chinese competition. Today, even rare earths mined in Australia, the US, or Africa are typically shipped to China for processing before being sold to manufacturers worldwide.
The geopolitical implications are profound. China has used rare earth exports as a diplomatic weapon before: in 2010 it reduced exports to Japan during a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands, triggering a global supply shock. US defense planners have identified rare earth dependency as a critical vulnerability: F-35 fighter jets, Tomahawk missiles, Virginia-class submarines, and every major US weapons system depends on components containing rare earth elements. A Chinese embargo would halt US weapons production within months.
Professor Jiang frames the rare earth question as a key dimension of the US-China technology war. Trump's tariffs and China's retaliatory export controls on rare earths in 2025 opened a new front in the conflict — one where China holds a dominant position. The strategic calculus: whoever controls the minerals controls the technology; whoever controls the technology controls the military; whoever controls the military controls the geopolitical order.
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Frequently asked questions
What are rare earth minerals? ＋
Rare earth minerals are a group of 17 metallic elements with unique properties essential for modern technology: EV motors, wind turbines, smartphones, LED screens, guided missiles, radar systems, and jet engines all depend on them. Despite the name, they are not especially rare in the Earth's crust, but are rarely found in economically mineable concentrations. China controls approximately 60-85% of global production and 85-90% of processing capacity — an effective monopoly over the raw materials of the 21st-century technology and defense industries.
Why are rare earths geopolitically significant? ＋
Rare earth dominance gives China a strategic chokepoint similar to oil: whoever controls the inputs controls the outputs. Every major US weapons system — F-35s, Tomahawk missiles, Virginia-class submarines — depends on rare earth components. China has already used rare earth exports as a diplomatic weapon, reducing exports to Japan in 2010 during a territorial dispute. In 2025, China imposed rare earth export controls in response to US tariffs, opening a new front in the technology war. Professor Jiang identifies rare earth control as the hidden dimension of China's grand strategy: build dominance in the minerals of the future while the West focuses on military hardware.