The Mineral Chessboard |
The last great scramble for strategic advantage was fought with tank columns and tanker convoys; the next will be fought with magnets so tiny they can sit on the head of a pin. In late autumn, when presidents met in Seoul and a bargain was struck, Beijing pausing export curbs on rare earths and promising agricultural purchases, Washington trimming tariffs and shelving punitive export lists, the world did not merely avert a tariff showdown. It witnessed the opening move in a more consequential contest: a race to secure the raw ingredients of tomorrow’s military edge and industrial power. What was negotiated in diplomatic parlors will soon be contested in deserts, mountains and coastal sands. Pakistan sits squarely in that contested geography.
Punjab launches NIDs, reaffirms commitment to end polio by 2026
Resource security, the ability to guarantee access to minerals, metals and processing capacity critical for advanced technology, is fast replacing trade deficits as the axis of great-power competition. The 20th century’s oil politics taught the lesson: energy dependence translated into political vulnerability. The 21st century repeats the lesson with different materials. Rare earth elements, lithium, cobalt, copper and their ilk are not merely commodities; they are strategic levers. They power electric motors, satellites, hypersonic missiles and the data centers that run artificial intelligence. Whoever controls them, and crucially, the capacity to process them, holds disproportionate sway over both civilian and military technologies.
Jinnah Hall Clock Tower restored after two decades
China’s rise in this domain was neither accidental nor spontaneous. Beijing invested early and........