{"id":139908,"date":"2025-12-24T13:36:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T05:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/who-will-prevail-in-the-rare-earth-competition-scholars-analyze-china-still-holds-a-structural-advantage\/"},"modified":"2026-03-13T11:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T03:07:14","slug":"who-will-prevail-in-the-rare-earth-competition-scholars-analyze-china-still-holds-a-structural-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/who-will-prevail-in-the-rare-earth-competition-scholars-analyze-china-still-holds-a-structural-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will prevail in the rare earth competition? Scholars analyze: China still holds a structural advantage."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Against the backdrop of rapid expansion in artificial intelligence, defense industry, and new energy industries, rare earths and key minerals are no longer merely raw materials, but strategic assets affecting national security and technological competitiveness. Recent diplomatic and economic actions by the United States in Southeast Asia demonstrate Washington&#8217;s attempt to restructure the global rare earth supply chain, reduce its heavy reliance on China, and place resource-rich nations at the forefront of the US-China rivalry.<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>Table of Contents<\/h2><nav><ul><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E6%9D%B1%E5%8D%97%E4%BA%9E%E8%A1%8C%E7%A8%8B%E8%83%8C%E5%BE%8C%E7%9A%84%E4%BE%9B%E6%87%89%E9%8F%88%E7%AE%97%E7%9B%A4\">Supply Chain Calculations Behind the Southeast Asia Trip<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E8%B2%BF%E6%98%93%E5%8D%94%E8%AD%B0%E8%88%87%E7%A4%A6%E7%94%A2%E5%90%88%E4%BD%9C%E7%9A%84%E9%9B%99%E8%BB%8C%E4%B8%A6%E9%80%B2\">A two-pronged approach: trade agreements and mineral cooperation.<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E9%A6%AC%E4%BE%86%E8%A5%BF%E4%BA%9E%E7%9A%84%E8%B3%87%E6%BA%90%E6%BD%9B%E5%8A%9B%E8%88%87%E6%94%BF%E7%AD%96%E8%80%83%E9%87%8F\">Malaysia&#8217;s resource potential and policy considerations<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E8%B3%87%E6%BA%90%E5%9C%8B%E6%88%90%E7%82%BA%E7%BE%8E%E4%B8%AD%E7%AB%B6%E9%80%90%E7%9A%84%E4%B8%BB%E6%88%B0%E5%A0%B4\">Resource-rich countries become the main battleground for the US-China competition.<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E7%B5%90%E6%A7%8B%E6%80%A7%E5%84%AA%E5%8B%A2%E5%A5%A0%E5%AE%9A%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E4%B8%BB%E5%B0%8E%E5%9C%B0%E4%BD%8D\">Structural advantages lay the foundation for China&#8217;s dominant position<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E7%93%B6%E9%A0%B8%E6%8A%80%E8%A1%93%E8%88%87%E5%90%88%E4%BD%9C%E6%A8%A1%E5%BC%8F%E7%9A%84%E5%B7%AE%E7%95%B0\">Differences between bottleneck technologies and cooperation models<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E5%85%A8%E7%90%83%E5%8D%97%E6%96%B9%E8%A6%96%E8%A7%92%E4%B8%8B%E7%9A%84%E5%BD%A2%E8%B1%A1%E7%AB%B6%E7%88%AD\">Image competition from a Global South perspective<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#%E7%B5%90%E8%AB%96\">Conclusion<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-53f5b7e3f276247290eb96a6858b72c2\" id=\"&#x6771;&#x5357;&#x4E9E;&#x884C;&#x7A0B;&#x80CC;&#x5F8C;&#x7684;&#x4F9B;&#x61C9;&#x93C8;&#x7B97;&#x76E4;\">Supply Chain Calculations Behind the Southeast Asia Trip<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">During his October trip to Southeast Asia, US President Trump reached immediate agreements with Malaysia and Thailand, with a core focus on cooperation in key minerals and rare earths. The White House stated that the US will deepen cooperation with Malaysia on the construction and security of the rare earth supply chain, while also strengthening cooperation with Thailand across all stages, from exploration and mining to processing. This strategy reflects the US&#8217;s accelerated push for a &#8220;de-Sinicization&#8221; supply chain restructuring strategy, attempting to establish new resource footholds in Asia.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-eee2fad7d390efd3d1da0eb52ba85138\" id=\"&#x8CBF;&#x6613;&#x5354;&#x8B70;&#x8207;&#x7926;&#x7522;&#x5408;&#x4F5C;&#x7684;&#x96D9;&#x8ECC;&#x4E26;&#x9032;\">A two-pronged approach: trade agreements and mineral cooperation.<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">During his participation in the ASEAN Summit, in addition to witnessing regional peace agreements, Trump also signed reciprocal trade agreements with Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia, pledging to address tariff and non-tariff barriers. According to the joint statement, the US will maintain existing tariff levels on most goods exported to these countries. However, what truly attracted attention was the concurrently signed agreement on diversifying key mineral and rare earth supply chains. This demonstrates that the US is closely linking trade policy with resource security, attempting to use economic incentives to secure long-term mineral cooperation.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-d1899630a6d2cc9e80561132e47c2594\" id=\"&#x99AC;&#x4F86;&#x897F;&#x4E9E;&#x7684;&#x8CC7;&#x6E90;&#x6F5B;&#x529B;&#x8207;&#x653F;&#x7B56;&#x8003;&#x91CF;\">Malaysia&#8217;s resource potential and policy considerations<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Malaysia is considered a key player in this cooperation. The country&#8217;s rare earth reserves are estimated at over 16 million metric tons, but to prevent resource outflow, it has banned the export of raw ore and is actively developing downstream processing industries. According to the statement, Malaysia has agreed not to impose restrictions on exports of critical minerals or rare earth elements to the United States, but the agreement does not explicitly distinguish between raw ore and processed products, leaving room for policy and industry interpretation in future cooperation.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-49528038e6292e04cb312ce50d8b6e0f\" id=\"&#x8CC7;&#x6E90;&#x570B;&#x6210;&#x70BA;&#x7F8E;&#x4E2D;&#x7AF6;&#x9010;&#x7684;&#x4E3B;&#x6230;&#x5834;\">Resource-rich countries become the main battleground for the US-China competition.<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Scholars generally believe that the flurry of signed cooperation agreements demonstrates that resource-rich countries have become the core arena for the US-China rare earth rivalry. However, many researchers point out that China still possesses a clear advantage in this competition. This is not only due to China&#8217;s long-term deep cultivation of Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America, but also because its investment model often comes with fewer political conditions, can quickly promote infrastructure development and create jobs, and is therefore regarded by some countries as a partner &#8220;truly capable of implementing construction.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-983de8d32d4895fc65d23cf6f965062a\" id=\"&#x7D50;&#x69CB;&#x6027;&#x512A;&#x52E2;&#x5960;&#x5B9A;&#x4E2D;&#x570B;&#x4E3B;&#x5C0E;&#x5730;&#x4F4D;\">Structural advantages lay the foundation for China&#8217;s dominant position<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">China&#8217;s influence in the rare earth industry did not develop overnight, but rather stems from highly structural advantages. Currently, China controls approximately 70% of global rare earth mining and nearly 90% of processing capacity. This means that even if rare earth minerals are mined in other countries, they often end up being sent to China for refining and separation. Scholars point out that this long-term strategy has given China an unshakeable leading position in downstream processing and applications.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-74863ca9d8a5da053b5f04957fa03b86\" id=\"&#x74F6;&#x9838;&#x6280;&#x8853;&#x8207;&#x5408;&#x4F5C;&#x6A21;&#x5F0F;&#x7684;&#x5DEE;&#x7570;\">Differences between bottleneck technologies and cooperation models<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Beyond production capacity, China also controls key bottlenecks ranging from rare earth separation to magnetic material manufacturing, and deeply integrates resource-rich countries into its own industrial system through joint ventures and long-term supply agreements. In contrast, the US cooperation model is usually accompanied by stricter compliance requirements and political conditions, and the speed of funding implementation is slower. This has led some governments to prefer the Chinese approach, which can quickly bring tangible construction results, when weighing economic development and political risks.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-a4a7dbb5cbf4e8956beb2e2dd61cd54a\" id=\"&#x5168;&#x7403;&#x5357;&#x65B9;&#x8996;&#x89D2;&#x4E0B;&#x7684;&#x5F62;&#x8C61;&#x7AF6;&#x722D;\">Image competition from a Global South perspective<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Studies have shown that China&#8217;s strategy of packaging infrastructure development, trade, and mineral cooperation together has cultivated a relatively positive image in the Global South; in contrast, the United States is increasingly perceived as having a more hardline stance. Even though the United States still possesses significant international influence, China&#8217;s relative advantage among emerging resource-rich countries in the rare earth and critical mineral sectors is unlikely to be replaced in the short term.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-ast-global-color-0-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-4cf945d05012796c794a38094d7531da\" id=\"&#x7D50;&#x8AD6;\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">\u7a00\u571f\u5df2\u6210\u70ba\u727d\u52d5\u7d93\u6fdf\u5b89\u5168\u3001\u570b\u9632\u88fd\u9020\u8207\u79d1\u6280\u7af6\u722d\u529b\u7684\u95dc\u9375\u8cc7\u6e90\uff0c\u7f8e\u4e2d\u4e4b\u9593\u7684\u89d2\u529b\u52e2\u5fc5\u6301\u7e8c\u5347\u6eab\u3002\u7f8e\u570b\u900f\u904e\u8207\u6771\u5357\u4e9e\u53ca\u5176\u4ed6\u8cc7\u6e90\u570b\u7c3d\u7f72\u5408\u4f5c\u5354\u8b70\uff0c\u6b63\u5617\u8a66\u91cd\u5851\u4f9b\u61c9\u93c8\u7248\u5716\uff0c\u4f46\u5728\u77ed\u671f\u5167\uff0c\u4e2d\u570b\u4ecd\u63e1\u6709\u52a0\u5de5\u8207\u6280\u8853\u4e0a\u7684\u95dc\u9375\u7c4c\u78bc\u3002\u672a\u4f86\uff0c\u6771\u5357\u4e9e\u3001\u975e\u6d32\u8207\u62c9\u4e01\u7f8e\u6d32\uff0c\u5c07\u6301\u7e8c\u626e\u6f14\u9019\u5834\u5168\u7403\u7a00\u571f\u7af6\u722d\u4e2d\u6700\u95dc\u9375\u3001\u4e5f\u6700\u5177\u8b8a\u6578\u7684\u821e\u53f0\u3002<\/p>\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n<p>We offer customized adjustments to the grinding process, tailored to meet processing requirements for maximum efficiency.<\/p>\n\n<p>After reading the content, if you still don\u2019t know how to select the most suitable option,<\/p>\n\n<p style=\"line-height:0.8\">Feel free to contact us and we will have specialist available to answer your questions.<\/p>\n\n<p style=\"line-height:0.8\">If you need customized quotations, you\u2019re also welcome to contact us.<\/p>\n\n<p style=\"line-height:0.8\">Customer Service Hours: Monday to Friday 09:00~18:00 (GMT+8)<\/p>\n\n<p style=\"line-height:0.8\">Phone: +886<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=%E5%AE%8F%E5%B4%B4&amp;oq=%E5%AE%8F%E5%B4%B4&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBggAEEUYOzIGCAAQRRg7MhAIARAuGK8BGMcBGIAEGI4FMgYIAhBFGDsyBwgDEAAYgAQyBggEEEUYPTIGCAUQRRg9MgYIBhBFGD0yBggHEEUYQdIBCDE5MDhqMGo3qAIIsAIB&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">7 223 1058<\/a><\/p>\n\n<p style=\"line-height:0.8\">If you have a subject that you want to know or a phone call that is not clear, you are welcome to send a private message to Facebook~~<\/p>\n\n<p style=\"line-height:0.8\">Honway Facebook: <a href=\"https:\/\/lihi.cc\/LhR8c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/honwaygroup<\/a><\/p>\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-ast-global-color-0-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/honway-raw-materials\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">We are Honway, by controlling our raw materials from the source, we ensure the quality of our products and offer you customized options.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div style=\"height:100px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n<p>You may be interested in&#8230;<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\"><p>[wpb-random-posts]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Against the backdrop of rapid expansion in artificial intelligence, defense industry, and new energy industries, rare earths and key minerals are no longer merely raw materials, but strategic assets affecting national security and technological competitiveness. Recent diplomatic and economic actions by the United States in Southeast Asia demonstrate Washington&#8217;s attempt to restructure the global rare earth supply chain, reduce its heavy reliance on China, and place resource-rich nations at the forefront of the US-China rivalry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139907,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[791,3166],"tags":[8894],"class_list":["post-139908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-knowledge-column","category-technological-insights","tag-rare-earth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/honwaygroup.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}