What Makes US Worry in Sino-US Trade War? - Rare Earth - 2/2

As a strategic resource in the Sino-US trade war, rare earth has attracted special attention around the world. China's goal is to maintain the green and sustainable development of rare earth industry.

Globally countries are concerned about: Will rare earths be the jetton for China to counter the United States in this Sino-US trade war?

Since May 20, General Secretary Xi Jinping made an on-the-spot investigation of relevant rare earth enterprises during his visit to Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, and made important instructions on promoting green and sustainable development of rare earth industry.

The relevant departments and bureaus of the National Development and Reform Commission held three rare earth industry forums in June, which is extremely rare in the history of rare earth industry development. The basic consensus reached at these three symposiums is that rare earth is a non-renewable and scarce resource. We should strengthen all-round supervision of the rare earth industry, carry out production order rectification, crack down on illegal practices, punish undocumented production and illegal smuggling, completely cut off the "black" industrial chain, strengthen export control, and establish a traceability and review mechanism for the whole process of rare earth export. At the same time, we should support the scientific and technological progress as well as high-end application, accelerate the realization of extensive and large-scale expansion relying on resource consumption, and turn to innovation-driven development, basic R&D capabilities and technological development relying on chain, to form the competitive advantage of the whole industry chain. 

It can be predicted that an orderly rectification and regulation of rare earth industry will begin, and the special value of rare earth as a strategic resource will be highlighted and emphasized.

After over-exploitation of resources, strict management and control can achieve sustainable development.

"China's Rare Earth Situation and Policy" points out that while developing rapidly, there are many problems in China's rare earth industry. China has also paid a huge price for this. The first priority is over-exploitation of resources. After more than half a century of ultra-intensive mining, China's rare earth reserves and guarantee years have been declining.

This means that China must strengthen the regulation and control of rare earth industry in order to achieve sustainable development of rare earth industry.

On Dec. 10, 2018, twelve ministries and commissions jointly issued the Notice on Continuous Strengthening the Order Rectification of the Rare Earth Industry, focusing on the prominent problems that disturb the order of the industry, such as private excavation, theft, mining and processing of illegal rare earth minerals, and increasing the intensity of investigation and punishment.

In 2019, the Ministry of Industry, Information Technology and the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the first batch of total control plans for rare earth mining, smelting and separation, it requires no unit or individual may produce unplanned or overscheduled products.

At three symposiums held in June, heads of the relevant departments and bureaus of the National Development and Reform Commission said that the order of the rare earth industry should be constantly strengthened, strictly implement the total amount control plan, and severely cracked down the violations of laws and regulations.

Over the past few years, China's global supply of rare earths has been increasing. In 2018, China's rare earth mining plan increased from 105,000 tons in 2017 to 120,000 tons, and its smelting separation plan increased from 100,000 tons to 115,000 tons.

What Makes US Worry in Sino-US Trade War? - Rare Earth - 1/2

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