China’s Rare Earths and Global Resource Security

Abstract

RARE earth minerals (REMs) – a hitherto poorly known set of minerals – have recently stormed onto world headlines. Described by some analysts as the “next oil” in global geopolitics, rare earths have become a major new concern for global resource security due to increasingly restrictive supply policies. Rare earth prices have surged as a result, and the governments of major consuming states, such as Japan, South Korea, the European Union, and the US, have begun efforts to develop new, more secure sources of rare earths supply.