Industrial upgrading and economic statecraft: the dual benefits of China's resource nationalism in the rare earths sector

Jewellord T. Nem Singh and Yingfeng Ji

Chapter 28 in Handbook of Resource Nationalism, 2026, pp 448-464 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Amidst the new wave of resource nationalism, global attention has shifted from traditional petroleum resources to so-called “green” critical minerals essential for the energy transition. This chapter examines the dual benefits generated by China's governance of the rare earth element (REE) sector under this changing context. China's REE policy has not only facilitated the transformation from a primary mineral exporter to the world's largest REE consumer and downstream processor, establishing a fully integrated industry with significant economies of scale. Chinese dominance in the REE sector has likewise yielded broader economic statecraft gains. China has done this through several tightly coordinated policies: (a) rectifying disorderly mining and environmental degradation; (b) consolidating state-owned enterprise control and industry concentration; and (c) enhancing the institutional framework and structural capacity of the state to leverage REEs as a bargaining tool in external strategic negotiations. As a result, REEs have been embedded into the core toolkit of China's economic security and foreign policy, illustrating a distinctive pathway in which resource nationalism extends into geoeconomic strategy.

Keywords: Rare Earth Elements; Resource Nationalism; Industrial Upgrading Policy; New Quality Productive Forces; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035333431
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