At a time when the global high-tech industry is developing rapidly, rare earths, known as "industrial vitamins," are increasingly showing their strategic value, and the competition among countries for rare earth resources and related technologies is also becoming more intense.

Recently, the Acting Minister of Malaysia's Natural Resources and Environment Sustainability Department, Johari, suddenly revealed a piece of news, saying that China is willing to provide technical and process assistance in the field of rare earth processing to Malaysia.

Certainly, this help has its conditions, which is that cooperation can only take place between state-owned enterprises of the two countries.

After all, rare earth technology is not only a helper for economic development, but also an important support for national strategic resources, and it cannot be taken lightly.

In fact, Malaysia has long harbored the ambition to "showcase its skills" in the fields of rare earth mining and processing, hoping to occupy an important position in the global supply chain.

The country has abundant rare earth resources. According to the Minister of Malaysia's Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Nazeri, it has more than 160 million tons of non-radioactive rare earth elements.

Beneath Malaysia's ground lies all 17 types of rare earth elements, with huge resource potential.

In order to realize the development of the rare earth industry, Malaysia has already made arrangements.

Last year, Prime Minister Anwar announced a complete ban on the export of raw rare earth minerals, mainly to attract investors to establish rare earth processing and manufacturing factories in Malaysia, to build a complete end-to-end rare earth industry supply chain, and enhance industrial value-added.

However, developing the rare earth industry is no easy task, and technology is one of the key bottlenecks.

In the field of rare earth processing technology, China undoubtedly holds a unique position.

That's why China's willingness to provide rare earth processing technology assistance is undoubtedly good news for Malaysia, a "big gift."

It is worth noting that Johari also pointed out that if this cooperation succeeds, Malaysia may become the only country in the world that simultaneously possesses both Chinese-invested and non-Chinese-invested rare earth processing technology. At that time, its prestige and market competitiveness in the international arena will greatly increase.

From the perspective of long-term cooperation, China and Malaysia have been close in recent years, with a lot of trade and infrastructure cooperation. If this really happens in rare earths, it will push the friendly relationship into deeper areas.

In Southeast Asia, there are many rare earth resources, and countries want to share the cake in the new energy wave. China's active release of the goodwill of technological cooperation can not only consolidate mutual trust with Malaysia, but also establish a more positive image in regional cooperation.

Of course, there may also be considerations about the global supply chain.

Now, countries are all competing for rare earth voice, some countries want to get rid of dependence on Chinese technology, but they don't know how to develop their own industries.

China's choice to cooperate with Malaysian state-owned enterprises will also firmly guard the bottom line of technical security. State-owned enterprise cooperation is more controllable to some extent, less likely to cause technical leaks, and can also prove through practical cases that China's technology output is not for monopoly.

Although this is the case, the risks in this cooperation cannot be ignored.

The most direct one is the issue of technical security. Rare earth processing technology is China's "secret weapon" accumulated over decades, from separation purity to environmental protection processes, many of which are proprietary secrets.

Although the cooperation is limited to state-owned enterprises, the actual operation of technical boundaries and core links remain a difficult problem.

Going deeper, the variable of geopolitics must also be considered. Government changes and policy swings are common occurrences.

Cooperation that is going well now, if the ruling team changes in the future, the attitude towards Chinese investment changes, or is interfered by the forces of other countries, whether the cooperation can continue and whether the technology cooperation will be "transferred", are all unknowns.

After all, rare earths are too sensitive; no one can guarantee that there won't be any problems in the middle.

In short, the premise of mutual benefit and win-win is to first hold your own bottom line. Trust that China has its own considerations.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7544133543916601866/

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