From the Times Online:
Global supply of the rare-earth metals [the “green” lanthanide metals used in hundreds of environmental and military technologies], which are vital to the mechanisms of hybrid cars, wind turbines, iPods, lasers, super-efficient light bulbs and radar systems, is 95 per cent controlled by China.
The country’s dominance of the market is the result of a deliberate, 20-year bid by Beijing to cast itself as the “Opec of rare earth metals”
And what are the trade implications:
The Chinese threat of an export ban on minerals critical to the modern world may end a phase of polite negotiation between Tokyo and Beijing on the issue. A senior Japanese official told The Times that if China does ban some rare earth metal exports by 2015, Japan may use the WTO to block such an action.
