CHINA

China has become a key supplier and user of rare materials. Its industrial restructuration and domestic reform around the New Silk Road campaign, which includes constructing extensive infrastructure and prospective geological reserves, will secure China’s position in the supply of these strategic natural resources as well as its high-valued derivates. 

A Post-doctoral researcher will examine the changing strategy of Chinese elites to place rare earth mining at the center of its economic model, specifically by looking at industrial, trade, and investment policies that would link resource dominance to high-tech consumer goods, military, and green technology. 

Fieldwork will be supported by Tsinghua University.