Cold War 2.0 sinks into the abyss and soars into space
Critical minerals known as rare earths are the new battleground between China and the United States
Cold War 2.0 stretches from “outer space to the bottom of the oceans” as rivalry intensifies between China and the United States. Last week, US President Donald Trump rolled out plans for Star Wars II at a cost of at least US$175 billion during a White House media briefing.
His “Golden Dome” blueprint had echoes of a similar announcement made during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s for a futuristic space missile shield. It was known as the Strategic Defense Initiative and was designed to protect the US from nuclear attack.
Yet Trump’s controversial decision came barely a month after calling for extensive deep-sea mining in international waters to break Beijing’s stranglehold on critical minerals. Uproar followed, despite China’s aim to ‘drill, baby drill’ in the South Pacific.
“A move made a few months earlier by [Beijing] garnered much less attention, when the Chinese government signed a cooperative exploration agreement with the Cook Islands,” The Wire China pointed out in a newsletter today.
“It could also eventually lead to Chinese mining in the Cook Islands’ vast exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, that covers an area the size of Mexico. The two moves highlight how the US and China’s intense rivalry now extends from outer space to the bottom of the oceans,” it said.
Global market conditions [have entrenched] China’s dominance.
Academic Walter Colnaghi
From the abyss to the heavens:
- Deep below the seabed are “hidden treasures” such as rare earth minerals.
- “China thinks it can win there too,” by out-maneuvering the US, The Wire China reported.
Delve deeper: Rare earths have fueled the technological revolution in the past two decades. They are vital components from satellite arrays to smartphones and from AI to EVs. Every high-tech domestic appliance and green energy product contains critical minerals.
Between the lines: “Global market conditions created by [Beijing’s] industrial policy make alternatives economically unviable, entrenching China’s dominance,” academic Walter Colnaghi at the Australian National University said.
Bottom line: “If those conditions are not addressed, there is no escape from this chokehold,” he wrote in a commentary today for the The Interpreter, which is part of the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney.
Big picture: “Ironically, the materials are commonly available as by-products of existing industrial processes, and recycling is also available. The real barrier is the artificially low prices created by decades of aggressive Chinese industrial policy,” Colnaghi added.
China Factor comment: Beijing has also weaponized rare earth minerals during trade tensions with Washington. Such moves risk jeopardizing America’s high-tech military systems and the ability of the US to defend itself against future aggression.