DR. JIM DENISON, PRESIDENT
AUG 27, 2014 | |
Fenggang Yang is a sociology professor at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival Under Communist Rule. He believes that "China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon." By his calculations, the number of believers in the People's Republic of China will rise to 160 million by 2025 and 247 million by 2030. If so, the country would be home to more Christians than any nation on earth. When I visited Beijing a few years ago, I was told that the rate of Christian growth is even higher than Professor Yang documents. By some measures, as many as 100,000 Chinese people come to Christ every day. Growth there is hard to document, given the large underground Christian movement in the country. Some observers believe that there are more followers of Jesus in China than members of the Chinese Communist party. When missionaries were expelled from China in 1949, there were less than four million believers in the country. Many predicted the death of the church. In the decades since, the Christian movement has exploded in growth, defying all odds and persecution. Recent attacks on church buildings in China are the enemy's latest response to the advance of God's Kingdom in this ancient land. What has led to China's spiritual renaissance? First, Christians in China have learned to depend fully and unconditionally on the power of God's Spirit. When I visited Beijing, I was astonished by the passionate spiritual depth I encountered. In a culture where there is little cultural support and active government resistance, believers must turn to God. Mother Teresa was right: "You'll never know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have." Second, Chinese Christians have paid the price of perseverance. They have weathered waves of persecution and opposition with steadfast resolve. Such commitment has deepened their community and their faith. Albert Schweitzer observed that "one who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity." Albert Einstein believed that "in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity." How has God called you to engage your lost culture with his truth and love? The higher your calling, the harder you must climb to fulfill it. But Charles Spurgeon was right: "If we cannot believe God when circumstances seem to be against us, we do not believe him at all." Do you believe God today? | |
BEIJING, July 11 — China, the world’s biggest producer of rare earth metals, is likely to turn an importer of the vital industrial ingredients by as early as 2014 as it boosts consumption in domestic high-tech industries rather than just shipping raw material overseas.
China says it is curbing exports to redress the environmental damage done by decades of mining, but has also made clear it would prefer to be the biggest consumer of rare earths rather than the biggest producer.
China’s appetite is growing fast as it seeks to maintain its stranglehold over the group of 17 elements used in new technologies like smartphones and hybrid cars.
A concerted effort to build an entire industrial chain means that China, which produces more than 90 per cent of world supplies of rare earths, is now consuming 65 per cent of output versus 25 per cent a decade ago.
“By 2014 or 2015, China will probably be in a net import situation for certain rare earths,” said Mark Smith, chief executive of Colorado-based miner Molycorp, which this year acquired China-based Neo Material Technologies to boost its processing know-how and its presence in China.
“When the demand is there, that’s where the supply has to go. Over 80 per cent of the magnets produced in the world come from China and that is growing just tremendously every year,” Smith told Reuters in an interview.
A labourer works at a site of a rare earth metals mine in Nancheng county, Jiangxi province. — Reuters pic
China’s coking coal sector offers a lesson, analysts say. Determined to feed its own steel mills instead of shipping the material abroad, China changed itself from the world’s biggest exporter into one of the biggest importers.
Sharing the burden
The United States Geological Survey says China has about half of global rare earth reserves, with 55 million tonnes, as compared to Russia with 19 million and the United States with 13 million. But China says the figure is closer to a quarter and churning out 90 per cent of world supplies is unsustainable.
Domestic consumption will grow at least 10 per cent a year in the next few years, said Li Zhong, vice-president of China’s biggest miner, Baotou Rare Earth, and with Beijing also capping output, the growth can only be met by a further export cut or increased imports.
Beijing’s policies have already pushed up prices, persuading countries like the United States, Canada and India to resume production after shutting mines decades ago. Processing is also becoming attractive, with Australia’s Lynas Corp seeking approval to build a plant in Malaysia.
High-tech rewards
For Beijing, shipping low-end ore abroad meant it paid all the environmental costs but gained none of the rewards from high-tech manufacturing. Its efforts to clean up mining and limit foreign sales are part of the same strategy to maximise returns from its resources.
“The control over global rare earth output is important as far as it buys China the time needed to establish the supply chain,” said Jane Nakano, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
As part of the push downstream, big producing regions like Baotou in Inner Mongolia are being encouraged to emulate the likes of Japan’s Hitachi, which began as a copper mine and turned itself into multi-billion-dollar high-tech conglomerate.
One key industry is magnets, used in renewable energy, satellites, MRIs and gas drilling. Chinese producers like Zhenghai Magnetic Materials contribute more than 80 per cent of global output, up from almost zero two decades ago.
China also makes more than 70 per cent of the world’s total luminescent materials, hydrogen storage cells and glass polishing materials, the industry ministry said in a report last month. All these items utilise rare earths.
While the ministry said China still lagged in downstream technologies, export curbs are playing a role in the effort to catch up, encouraging foreign firms to bring technology to China in pursuit of cheaper rare earth.
“We were supplying all the glass plants and they were a huge operation in the United States for over 100 years, but those operations have essentially all moved to China,” said Michael Silver, chief executive of advanced materials maker American Elements, which gets rare earths from China.
Glass makers were lured to China because of cerium, used in glass colouring and polishing. Neodymium is also used in energy-saving light bulbs, whose production has also moved to China.
Imports
China’s experience with coking coal provides a precedent.
As the world’s biggest producer of the steelmaking material, China was also a massive exporter, shipping millions of tonnes a year to Europe and Japan.
But it wanted more. It imposed export curbs, rode out trade disputes and became a net importer by 2008 following a massive expansion of its steel sector. Imports now meet a fifth of China’s 550 million-tonne annual consumption.
While China is unlikely to import light rare earths such as lanthanum and cerium, abundant in Inner Mongolia, shortages of heavy and medium rare earths could arise.
“Given the way demand is increasing, it is quite possible China will eventually be importing some heavy rare earth elements,” said an official with a rare earth magnet producer.
Smith of Molycorp hopes for a time when his company will not only fill gaps in global supplies but also supply China itself.
“Simply put, we don’t think China can keep up with the demand for rare earths,” he said. “They are going to have to go to the outside.” — Reuters
