This week on Sinica, Kaiser chats with Julie Klinger, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware’s Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, about rare earths — a family of 17 elements that are essential to the function of modern industry and are indispensable in everyday technology. Julie debunks many of the myths surrounding China and rare earths, and lays out her ideas about why, despite the relative ubiquity of mineable rare earth deposits, China has dominated production of these vitally important minerals for decades.
3:00: Debunking conventional wisdom on China and rare earths
9:55: What are rare earths and how important are they
21:30: How China’s near-monopoly on rare earths came to be
32:49: Mining and environmental degradation
45:32: China’s decision to slow down rare earth production and its consequences
Recommendations:
Julie: Going outside for the sake of going outside, and The Probiotic Planet: Using Life to Manage Life, by Jamie Lorimer.
Kaiser: “The chip choke point,” by Tim De Chant, in The Wire China (listen to the article on China Stories).
Christian Shepherd on Xinjiang and China's changing ethnic policy
Introducing 'Strangers in China'
‘Mirrorlands’: Ed Pulford on the Sino-Russian border
Trade war economics, with Andy Rothman
Making the world safe for autocracy: Jessica Chen Weiss on what Beijing wants
Matt Sheehan on California's role in U.S.-China relations
The world according to Jeremy Goldkorn
Wealth and Power: Intellectuals in China
China correspondent Emily Feng: From the FT to NPR
Michael Swaine on the ‘China is not an enemy’ open letter
An update on the Hong Kong protests
Searching for roots in China
Military Strategy and Politics in the PRC: A Conversation with Taylor Fravel
Umbrella Revolution 2.0 – or something else? Antony Dapiran on the Hong Kong demonstrations
A voice of reason within the Beltway: Ryan Hass vs. the so-called bipartisan consensus
A student leader 30 years after Tiananmen: Wu’er Kaixi reflects on the movement
China's New Red Guards: Jude Blanchette on China's Far Left
Charlene Barshefsky on Trump’s Trade War
Chinese Investment: Beyond the USA
‘Haunted by Chaos: China’s Grand Strategy,’ with Sulmaan Wasif Khan
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