EU Commissioner Calls for Joint Rare Earths Reserves to Mitigate Threats From Communist China
Udumbara
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As the communist regime in China continues to use rare earths as leverage in geopolitics against the free world, the European Union (EU) commissioner called on member countries to establish a joint rare earth reserve to mitigate future economic blackmail and supply chain disruption by Beijing.
“All European countries today have strategic reserves for oil and gas. We should do the same for strategic raw materials,” EU Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Séjourné of France, told the German newspaper Handelsblatt on June 23.
Séjourné added that he would launch further tenders this year to promote alternative sources of raw material.
In recent months, as trade disputes with China, especially revolving around U.S. tariffs, intensified, the Chinese regime imposed export restrictions on rare earth magnets in April, requiring new licenses, which led diplomats, automakers, and other companies in Europe and elsewhere to seek meetings with the regime’s officials to avoid factory shutdowns.
The German Mechanical Engineering Federation (VDMA) warned on June 12 that German factories and equipment manufacturers are increasingly facing the dilemma of rare earth supply bottlenecks, and called on the EU to put pressure on China. It also stressed that suppliers other than China need to be found in the medium and long term.
Séjourné warned Beijing that the EU has the tools to defend its interests in a potential trade war. “Europe must finally use the same weapons as its competitors,” he said.
The EU announced 13 new raw material projects from outside the union in June to increase supply of metals and minerals that are crucial for the EU’s competitiveness for transiting its energy systems away from fossil fuels, as well as for defense and aerospace applications.
Sun Kuo-hsiang, a professor of international affairs and business at Nanhua University in Taiwan, told The Epoch Times on June 24 that he expects EU member nations to respond positively to the proposal, “as it is in line with the strategic autonomy and economic security needs of the entire EU.”
Rare earths are essential for key industries such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, defense and aerospace, he said, and “China’s recent restrictions on rare earth exports have further highlighted the urgency of diversifying the supply chain.”
He noted that for some pro-China Eastern European countries, their positions may be more complicated.
“On the one hand, these countries may prefer to maintain good economic relations with China. But on the other hand, as EU member states, they also face supply chain risks and industrial development needs. The establishment of joint rare earth reserves will be part of the EU’s overall strategy, emphasizing common interests and risk sharing.
“Ultimately, based on the overall interests of the EU, these countries may also tend to support this initiative,” he explained.
Su Tzu-yun, researcher and director of the Division of Defense Strategy and Resources at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, shares a similar assessment, noting that EU countries have already cooperated in looking for alternatives.
“Greenland itself has rich rare earth minerals, and Ukraine also has rare earth deposits,” he told The Epoch Times on June 24.
“Those Eastern European countries with a more pro-CCP political stance have no reason to oppose the initiative. So at least within the EU system, although they may not strongly support it, they will not oppose it,” he added, intentionally differentiating being pro-China from supporting the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime in his comments.
Sun also noted that Greenland, as an autonomous region of Denmark, has rare earth reserves second only to China.
Refining Rare Earths a Bigger Problem
Su said it won’t be a big problem for the EU to set up rare earths reserves sourced from other countries like those in Africa or South America.The real problem is which country will refine the rare earths, Su said, noting that there are not many countries willing to put their environment and people’s health at risk. “In the past few decades, China has refined them because the Chinese regime disregards the heavy environmental pollution caused by it.”
And because of its lack of serious environmental protections and stewardship efforts, he said, “the cost was relatively low.”
Another issue is the refining technology, Su said. China has the leading technology to refine the rare earths to military grade 99 percent purity. “European countries and the United States lag behind China. What they really need to worry about is the subsequent purification technology,” he said.
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The Chinese regime responded to Séjourné’s criticisms, saying it attached great importance to the EU’s concerns and would consider speeding up the approval process for rare earth exports to the EU.
Sun said that China may be aware that the EU is actively seeking alternative sources, “hoping to maintain its influence in the rare earth market through this move to prevent the EU from accelerating the establishment of a completely independent supply chain from it.”
But he warned that the Chinese regime may play politics and divide the EU countries’ position on the rare earth issue by relaxing approvals but only for select countries.
He said that China may also use “price manipulation” and “put diplomatic pressure” on EU countries to dissuade their efforts to establish an independent rare earth supply chain.
Su said the Chinese regime may reopen rare earths exports to the EU in the short term, “and use 99 percent military-grade rare earths as leverage.”
“The reason why the EU wants to establish a joint reserve is that it does not trust the Chinese regime. They may open exports now, and block it again one day. So in the short term, the EU and the Chinese regime will negotiate on the exports of rare earths. In the medium and long term, the EU must establish its own controllable source of rare earths,” Su said.
