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This term refers to a group of seventeen chemical elements, present in the periodic table, ranging from lantanium to lutetium, to which are added the groove and the ittrio. These metals are also known as rare earths. The adjective "rare", however, is not used in terms of abundance but to indicate the low concentration of deposits that makes the extraction costs high.   

The main characteristics of these metals are luminescence and the ability to give rise to alloys with high magnetic properties. However, the most interesting aspect is that these elements, in addition to playing a fundamental role in the development of technology, have become crucial to the geopolitical balance.

Thanks to the large natural reserves, China is in control of almost all world production. It is enough to think, in fact, that 80% of these matters are in his hands.

In addition, in 2017 the Middle Empire extracted 105,000 tons of rare earths, unlike the United States which produced only 43,000 tons in the last two decades.

These figures are going to completely reshape the economic and trade balances as much of Western countries, and not, are increasingly dependent on the Beijing government. Rare materials, in fact, are of fundamental importance for the realization of technological tools. All modern electronics, as well as hybrid cars, computers, lasers, wind turbines have a good percentage of rare earths among their components. It is also, and above all, dependent on these elements the instruments of war.

In this significant regard is the episode starring the United States of Donald Trump. The Republican government, in fact, has had second thoughts about making imports of these materials from China more expensive, as the risk was to cause more damage to itself rather than to the Chinese market. These elements, as mentioned above, are fundamental to the military, demonstrating that the US military, and not only, is totally dependent on these matters.

All this inevitably increases China's military and economic power, so much so that the Pentagon fears that the Beijing government could hinder American military growth by reducing or eliminating supplies of rare materials altogether and sabotaging the technology that exports. Fears that are not unfounded, suffice it to say that as early as 1992 the then Chinese president, Deng Xiaoping, argued that the export of these metals would guarantee Beijing the same power as Middle Eastern oil.

"Arab countries have oil, China has rare earths."

Thanks to this awareness, the following year the Beijing government adopted Program 863 with the aim of exploiting its fields and ensuring the development of advanced technologies. In addition, in the same year China far outperformed the United States in the extraction of these metals. Despite the incredible growth from an economic and commercial point of view, in 2010 rare earths were the protagonists of an international dispute. That year, China decided to reduce exports of rare materials by 40 percent, justifying this as an act of safeguarding the environment. This decision was probably based, more than anything else, on protectionism grounds in order to give greater benefit to the country's companies using rare earths. These measures led to an increase in international prices of these materials, and consequently, to strong concern on the part of Western states. In 2012, the United States, together with Japan and the European Union, turned to the World Trade Organization 'Conciliation Board of the World Trade Organization (WTO). After several years of vicissitudes, the dispute resolution body succeeded in removing China's restrictions on rare earth exports.

In the meantime, the prices of these metals are rising considerably, so much so that many Western countries were forced to resume production in the old quarries in order to secure new investment. However, this decision proved to be a misstep as Beijing decided to lower the selling prices making any form of competition from the West impossible.

Today there are 120 million tonnes of rare earths in the world. The largest concentration of these deposits, besides in China, is found in Brazil andRussia. With control of 37 percent of these nature reserves, the Beijing government continues to dominate the global market for these elements. And it doesn't matter if there are huge economic and environmental costs to extract these materials. Rare earth processing and extraction, in fact, causes pollution of the seas, involves the use of toxic materials for the refining phase and produces processing waste such as radioactive waste.  

In addition, Western countries are becoming increasingly dependent on China in terms of the disposal of technological waste. It is enough to think, in fact, that the Middle Empire disposes of about 70% of this waste, therefore only a very low percentage of lantanoids, about 1%, is recycled. All this allows the Government in Beijing to increase its dominance over materials and this huge market.

China has a powerful blackmail weapon that allows it to keep in check countries with which it has political and economic disputes, which gives it enormous bargaining power and which ensures its growth from a military point of view. And for the series is never powerful enough, in 2015 Chinese Premier Li Keqiang launched the "Made in China 2025" plan whose main goal is to produce locally, by 2025, 70 percent of the products that will determine the industry of the future thus inducing the major Western technology industries to transfer their production to

The government in Beijing has already adopted an economic policy for several years that would guarantee it the title of planetary superpower. In an increasingly complex geopolitical environment, China is emerging as the undisputed leader and this is probably just the beginning of a long history of the rise of the Middle Empire.

Rebecca Molinari contributed.