China controls roughly 90 p.c of the world’s uncommon earths processing. Its dominating place within the uncommon earth provide permits Beijing to weaponize its structural benefit within the high-tech trade and inexperienced power transition.
Final week, China’s Ministry of Commerce tightened restrictions on uncommon earth exports, abruptly ending the tariff truce reached in Could 2025. In response, the Trump administration threatened to impose tariffs of as much as one hundred pc on Chinese language exports to the US.
Whereas the China-U.S. commerce battle continues to evolve, discussions about diversification of uncommon earth sourcing have been rising. Some actors have thought-about participating with Myanmar, a significant exterior provider of uncommon earths to China. Nevertheless, methods to counter China’s uncommon earths monopoly should confront the entrenched and multilayered injustices underpinning the worldwide provide chain. A case examine of Myanmar’s uncommon earths reveals inequalities between the International North and the International South, between China and Myanmar, and between native powerholders and affected communities.
Because the 2021 navy coup, which ended a decade of political liberalization, uncommon earth exports from Myanmar to China have sharply elevated. Chinese language customs knowledge report that imports rose in worth from $388 million in 2020 to $1.4 billion in 2023.
Most of Myanmar’s uncommon earth components, particularly heavy uncommon earths corresponding to dysprosium (Dy) and terbium (Tb), are extracted from mines in Kachin State and Shan State, adjoining to China. In Kachin State alone, the variety of mining websites elevated from about 130 in 2020 to no less than 370 in 2025, as revealed by satellite tv for pc evaluation from the Institute for Technique and Coverage.
These developments hint again to the post-coup collapse of public administration and intensifying armed battle. The ensuing stream of uncommon earths into China has strengthened Beijing’s dominance within the sector.
With that in thoughts, one proposed technique for different nations to scale back dependence on Chinese language uncommon earth imports entails participating with Myanmar straight. Though many worldwide stakeholders stay hesitant to cooperate with the navy regime, some ponder collaboration between the Kachin Independence Group (KIO) and the US, India, Australia, and Japan by the Quad grouping.
Partaking with Myanmar as a substitute provider will not be a easy resolution to China’s monopoly. Doing so will solely exacerbate entrenched injustice within the provide chain. Communities impacted by uncommon earth extraction have been sacrificed by the International North nations, China, and Myanmar powerholders alike.
The urgent concern of local weather change has prompted the International North nations to scale back reliance on fossil fuels and transit to renewable power. This prompted elevated demand for uncommon earth components, that are indispensable to the manufacturing of electrical autos and wind generators. But the human and environmental prices borne by the International South nations the place these minerals are extracted have been uncared for.
Regardless of its wealthy endowment of uncommon earth minerals, China expanded mining in Myanmar to keep away from environmental and social prices at residence – effecting outsourcing a closely polluting trade. The mines in Myanmar use the in-situ leaching method, during which ammonium sulphate is used to dissolve the uncommon earth ions from the mountains. The poisonous waste launched into groundwater, soil, and air is making a long-term and large-scale environmental hazard.
In Kachin State, the place a part of the territory is occupied by the KIO, an ethnic resistance group, social opposition to uncommon earth mining is seen. Native communities depend upon pure sources for his or her livelihoods. The contamination of farmland and rivers by the chemical substances used within the uncommon earth trade has ruined native economies.
In 2023, over 1,500 Kachin individuals categorically rejected the enlargement of a uncommon earth mining mission in Mansi Township owing to opposed environmental impacts. The KIO, which initially claimed that the uncommon earth income was wanted to finance the armed resistance and public companies, ultimately suspended the mission as a consequence of villagers’ mass protest. However, the KIO continues to barter with Chinese language mining firms concerning uncommon earth exports.
In different areas, compelled displacement to make room for uncommon earth mining by the navy and ethnic armed organizations will not be unusual. Civil society teams have due to this fact known as for a halt within the buying and selling of battle minerals from Myanmar beneath the unstable political conditions.
International requires a “simply transition” to inexperienced power should do greater than deal with technical challenges. Sturdy moral oversight to make sure group participation, environmental safety, transparency, and accountability throughout provide chains have to be in place. In any other case, the consumption of uncommon earths will solely perpetuate the systematic exploitation of weak communities.
Australia is striving to extend its uncommon earth manufacturing capability. Its essential minerals reserve, expertise, infrastructure, and regulatory framework make the nation a strategic companion in uncommon earth provide. The price of accountable uncommon earth sourcing, nonetheless, is anticipated to be greater.
In the meantime, the International North ought to cooperate with regional actors to step up political and financial stress on Myanmar’s navy junta to reinstate democratic governance and peace. Within the absence of such reforms, initiatives for inexperienced power transition and strategic commerce diversification by Myanmar won’t be possible.