Actually, rare earth reserves are common. But their extraction and refinement is environmentally polluting. If China cuts of rare earth export to the rest of the world, the rest of the world could easily make good the deficiency, provided that relax the environement constraints on mining operation.
It was stupid for China to use rare earth export for political leverage on sensitive, but not instantly critical issues in relation to Japan. Rare earth is not such a overwhelming trump card, and using it prematurely simply means others would have become better prepared to defeat it if China faces a really critical issue and needed all the cards it can get.
It was stupid for China to use rare earth export for political leverage on sensitive, but not instantly critical issues in relation to Japan. Rare earth is not such a overwhelming trump card, and using it prematurely simply means others would have become better prepared to defeat it if China faces a really critical issue and needed all the cards it can get.