[속보]”China is reviewing restrictions on exports of rare earths using US military supplies” -FT

US President Joe Biden (left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping. © News1 Designer Choi Soo-ah

The Financial Times (FT) reported on the 16th, citing government sources, that the Chinese government is reviewing restrictions on the production and export of rare earths, which are essential for major U.S. military supplies such as F-35 fighters.

According to sources, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China submitted a draft regulation last month on the production and export of 17 rare earth species, which China accounts for 80% of the world’s supply.

The plan is to examine the impact of this measure to damage US defense companies such as Lockheed Martin and Europe.

An official from the Chinese government who requested anonymity told FT, “The government wants to know if the United States could have difficulty building F-35 fighters if China puts an export ban.”

In addition, the strategy is to find out how quickly the US can acquire alternative resources and increase its own production capacity through export bans.

Rare earth is a generic term for 17 kinds of rare earth elements. Although rare earth elements themselves are not rare and are not universally expensive, advanced technology and long-term accumulated techniques are essential in the process of mining, separating, and refining, and they also emit a lot of pollutants.

With the recent intensifying conflict between the United States and China, concerns have been raised that China may try to restrict exports of rare earths. Accordingly, there has been a growing voice in the United States that the problem of dependence on the public for supply and demand of rare earths, which is an essential raw material for its high-tech industry, must be resolved.

China’s share of rare earth reserves is estimated at 37% of the world, but its actual supply is more than 90%. China’s control of strategic metals is very robust and the difficulty of competing with China’s state-led model is so great that some are predicting that it will take more than 10 years to secure a relatively safe US supply chain.

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