China backs down on the use of rare earths as political leverage

[Richard]

Well this is a positive turn..

(Reuters) - China said on Thursday it will not use its dominance of supplies of rare earths as a bargaining tool with foreign economies, and the United States said it hoped trade in the high-tech ores would continue as normal.

China has slashed export quotas and reduced shipments to Japan, igniting international concern that it could use rare earth exports as an economic or political lever. Prices have spiked and mining firms are rushing to develop sources of the minerals outside China.

Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology spokesman Zhu Hongren said Beijing sought international cooperation.

"China will not use rare earths as an instrument for bargaining," he told a news conference on Thursday. "Instead, we hope to cooperate with other countries in the use of rare earths on the basis of win-win outcomes and jointly protecting this unrenewable resource."

More: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69R12Y20101028

[Anchor]

China said on Thursday it will not use its dominance of supplies of rare earths as a bargaining tool with foreign economies, and the United States said it hoped trade in the high-tech ores would continue as normal.

I think they already used rare earths in that manner - all they needed to anyway.

[Carmody]

From another thread:

Maehara also propagated a totally false report that China had stopped exports of rare earth minerals. This so-called stoppage was widely reported in the world’s media. In fact, all that China has done is say that it will phase out export of completely unprocessed rare earth metals to a Western cartel and instead sell semi-processed rare-metals directly to the world’s manufacturers.

Maehara has long been considered in Japan to be a Federal Reserve Board agent who has been compromised by bribes related to weapons purchases. He is not expected to last long in his present job.

I'm also off to correct, or add to.... another thread based on this subject.

[Lost Soul]

Oh whoppee. The Chinese refuse to sell one particular mineral to the Japanese. However, Japanese scientists have engineered a substitute, thereby negating the need for that rare mineral. Good for the Japanese.