I was surprised to see rare earth splashed across the front page of the China Daily when I picked up the paper this morning, with the headline claiming that “Rare earths ‘will not be (a) bargaining instrument’”. A reference to statements made yesterday by Zhu Hongren, spokesman for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Most readers of the daily may have been confused about what rare earths are and why they were Friday’s headline story, while those in the know were left scratching their heads, trying to figure out the Rubik’s cube of recent statements by Chinese officials regarding rare earth.
There have been countless attempts by media to try to make sense of China’s export embargo against Japan and consequent statements by various government officials and ‘unnamed sources’, as well as the current availability of export quotas. Well, now it’s my turn: