Rare Earth Game: Awakening of Resource Sovereignty in the Third World

After breakthroughs in U.S.-China trade negotiations, many American companies reliant on imports from China breathed a sigh of relief. However, as China’s export controls on rare earths have not been clearly lifted, U.S. purchasers are growing increasingly anxious.

On May 16, the South China Morning Post reported that rare earth controls are a “trump card” in China’s hands, and the U.S. will find it difficult to escape its dependence on Chinese rare earths in the short term. American companies sourcing rare earths from China are worried that with stringent export approval controls, their production lines face the risk of supply chain disruptions, leading to catastrophic financial impacts.

Rare earths are known as “industrial vitamins.” From the F-35 fighter jet to Tesla robots, from new energy batteries to laser-guided weapons, rare earth elements are essential, underscoring their importance. However, 90% of global rare earth processing capacity is concentrated in China, and the purification technology for heavy rare earths (such as dysprosium and terbium) is monopolized by China. This technological barrier and resource concentration are not coincidental; they are the result of decades of industrial accumulation.

Western countries once transferred resource extraction and processing to developing countries through colonial and capital advantages while maintaining control over the top of the technology chain. Today, China has broken this pattern through independent research and industrial integration, upgrading rare earths from “cheap raw materials” to “strategic weapons.”

The predicament of the U.S. military-industrial complex reveals the vulnerability of the West’s long-standing reliance. Pentagon assessments indicate that if China were to completely cut off supply, the F-35 production line would be paralyzed within six months. Tesla robots have been forced to reduce production due to a shortage of rare earth magnets, further highlighting the “China dependency” of America’s high-tech industry. This dependency is not a result of Chinese imposition but rather a natural selection of market dynamics and technological competition. When Western companies outsource their supply chains to reduce costs, they inevitably bear the risk of supply chain disruptions.

Third-world countries have long suffered from resource plunder. From diamonds in Africa to copper mines in Latin America, colonizers have plundered in the name of “free trade,” leaving behind only environmental destruction and economic dependency. Now, when China regulates rare earth exports according to law, the West accuses it of “disrupting supply chains,” a narrative that essentially continues the thinking of neocolonialism.

Third-world countries should recognize that the West’s anxiety over rare earths is a signal of its waning technological hegemony. China’s control over rare earths is not only for national security but also a legitimate exercise of resource sovereignty. If even the right to control resources is to be vilified as a “threat,” where does that leave the development rights of third-world countries?

The essence of the rare earth game is the struggle for discourse power in the global industrial chain. If third-world countries continue to act as raw material exporters, they will forever be trapped at the bottom of the value chain. China’s practice shows that only through technological upgrades and industrial integration can resources be transformed into strategic leverage.

The rare earth dispute is not only a microcosm of U.S.-China rivalry but also a rehearsal for the reconstruction of global order. Third-world countries should firmly support China’s legitimate actions to maintain resource sovereignty, as this represents a collective counterattack against Western hegemony. When F-35s are grounded due to a lack of rare earths, we see not only the plight of a fighter jet but also the cracks in an old order.

History will ultimately prove that the era of resource monopoly and technological hegemony is coming to an end. True global fairness begins with each country controlling its own resources and having the autonomy to choose its development path. China’s rare earth policy is a forerunner of this process.