HONG KONG -- While China reigns as the largest producer of rare-earth elements, the recent military coup in Myanmar has reminded Beijing of its reliance on and vulnerability to its Southeast Asian neighbor.
China owns the largest reserves of these strategic minerals, which are indispensable in churning out a wide variety of tech products, from smartphones to electric vehicles, wind power generators and missile defense systems, but it also heavily relies on imports, mainly from the U.S. and Myanmar.
