Japan is stepping up efforts to wean itself off China's rare earth teat, and has agreed to strengthen cooperation with Kazakhstan in developing rare earth minerals when Yukio Edano, Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry, visited the country earlier this month.

It is not the first time that Japan has sought to hedge against sourcing for rare earths from China. It is publicly known that Japan has sought cooperation with countries such as Australia and Estonia to expand into new markets. This will certainly help Japan but it will do little to shake China's dominance of the rare earth market over the next few years.

China has a large amount of rare earth reserves and offers them at relatively low prices. China's rare earth quota was 30,000 tons last year but this was not used up, as may well be the case this year as well.

China has calibrated the allocation of rare earths for every developed country. It is each country's own business if it wants to move away from relying on China' supply, but China has never said that it would stop supplying Japan.

China has been blamed for using rare earths as diplomatic leverage on Japan. 

Indeed, there are problems within China's rare earth industry such as environmental issues and the sustainability of resources, which will affect China's long-term plans.

China's rare earth quota was set against the background of the international arena.

China used to have many rare earth producers and the supply largely exceeded demand, which resulted in low prices on the international market. Developed countries imported at these low prices, turned them into high value-added goods, and sold them on, turning a handsome profit. This generated an unfair international trade.

To ensure that more countries could get the share of rare earths needed for their development, China created the policy of setting a certain quota. This was also a means to regulate the domestic rare earth market.

Other countries would carry out the same policy as China if they were in the same situation. It may not be the best way to regulate the whole industry, but it has proven to be the most practical so far.

There are still practices that are not up to standard. China's market economy is not perfect yet and needs improvement. This has been the preoccupation of policymakers. Some countries' hyping of China's trade practices will do no good to either China or themselves.

The article was compiled by Global Times reporter Wang Wenwen based on an interview with Zhang Anwen, deputy secretary of Chinese Society of Rare Earths. wangwenwen@globaltimes.com.cn