According to Malaysia's official data, the country contains about 16 million tons of non-radioactive rare earth elements, with an estimated value of 1.5 trillion yuan, which is almost half of Malaysia's GDP last year.
However, Malaysia has obvious shortcomings in rare earth production and processing technology, which undoubtedly weakens its competitiveness in the global rare earth market.
(Rare earth raw materials awaiting export)
In today's market environment, "custom-made" products are clearly more attractive than "raw material sales" and, therefore, are more expensive.
In addition, the rare earth processing industry is expected to create at least 7,000 new jobs for Malaysia, which will have a significant impact on Malaysia's economy. For this reason, Malaysia is interested in seeking cooperation with China, the only country in the world with a complete rare earth industry chain, which is undoubtedly a wise choice.
It is worth noting that in December last year, China's Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly issued the "Catalogue of Technologies Prohibited and Restricted from Export in China", which clearly listed the refining, processing and application of rare earths as professional technologies prohibited from export.
Against this policy backdrop, Malaysia has applied to China to introduce rare earth processing technology that has been banned from export, which is actually applying for a special technology license from China
From this action, we can get a glimpse of Malaysia's grand blueprint and long-term strategic plan for the development of rare earth resources.
Since the beginning of this year, Malaysia has stopped exporting rare earth mineral resources.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has made it clear that the purpose of this ban is to actively develop the downstream industry of rare earths to ensure that the country can obtain maximum economic benefits.
Mastering core technologies is essential for the development of the times. History has proven that the key to the rapid development of European and American countries lies in the fact that they have made major breakthroughs in technology and have firmly mastered these key technologies, so that they are significantly ahead of other countries and quickly rank among the developed countries.
A few decades ago, the mainland faced a technological blockade and experienced a difficult journey from imitation to independent research and development of technology. However, it is the support of technology that has driven the rapid development of the continent in recent decades.
The export of technology offers many advantages. First, it helps to maximize the value of technology by turning it directly into an asset. Second, technology exports also help to strengthen diplomatic relations and cooperation between countries.
However, in the current situation, Malaysia still faces many challenges in achieving its ambitious vision.
The rare earth processing industry chain has extremely high professional requirements, which requires the processing country to have an advanced economic system and infrastructure. This industry requires a huge initial capital investment and time cost, and the return on investment is uncertain.
This is also the core reason why the United States and other countries are trying to reduce their "rare earth dependence" on China, but it is difficult to see obvious results in the short term.
In addition, China accounts for about 85% of the global rare earth sales market. The United States is trying to weaken China's position by creating a "rare earth alliance", a strategy similar to its countermeasures in the "chip alliance".
If Malaysia chooses to cooperate deeply with China in the field of rare earth processing, it may face the pull of the United States or waver under the pressure of the United States, which are unpredictable and uncontrollable factors.