BEIJING: China is counting on one crucial advantage as it seeks to grind out a deal to ease its high-stakes trade war with the United States – dominance in rare earths.
Used in electric vehicles, hard drives, wind turbines and missiles, rare earth elements are essential to the modern economy and national defence.
AFP takes a look at how rare earths have become a key sticking point in talks between the US and China.
"The Middle East has oil. China has rare earths," Deng Xiaoping, the late Chinese leader whose pro-market reforms set the country on its path to becoming an economic powerhouse, said in 1992.
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Since then, Beijing's heavy investment in state-owned mining firms and lax environmental regulations compared to other industry players have turned China into the world's top supplier.
The country now accounts for 92 per cent of global refined output, according to the International Energy Agency.
But the flow of rare earths from China to manufacturers around the world has slowed after Beijing in early April began requiring domestic exporters to apply for a licence, widely seen as a response to US tariffs.
Under the new requirements, which industry groups have said are complex and slow-moving, seven key elements and related magnets require Beijing's approval to be shipped to foreign buyers.
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