I foresee a scenario in which China becomes the number 1 economy in the world and becomes a joint superpower together with the US. China already has a lot of influence in African and Latin American countries through investments, and will start to compete with the US for cheap recourses. Due to China's economic prosperity and ability to invest in other countries, China will slowely start to win this competition for recourses with the US. Now this wouldn't be as bad since the US has many natural recourses and for the time being is able to compete with China, if it weren't for one thing, one Chinese monopoly:
Control over so-called rare earth elements, or more specifically rare earth minerals (profitable amounts of these elements http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element). These rare earth elements often possess interesting properties and have subsequently become essential for the production of many modern devices, ranging from lasers, batteries, and magnets, to aerospace components, TV's, camera lenses and various machines used in hospitals such as X-ray machines and PET Scan machines.
"China now produces over 97% of the world's rare earth supply, mostly in Inner Mongolia,[9][10] even though it has only 37% of proven reserves.[11] All of the world's heavy rare earths (such as dysprosium) come from Chinese rare earth sources such as the polymetallic Bayan Obo deposit."
China is in possession of a monopoly when it comes to these elements, producing 97% of them. China has already began regulating exports of these rare earth elements and become more strict. Demand of these elements is rising in China (as well as in the rest of the world) and it is likely that China will make regulations even stricter.
What does this mean for other countries in the world?
"As a result of the increased demand and tightening restrictions on exports of the metals from China, searches for alternative sources in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, Greenland, and the United States are ongoing.[20] Mines in these countries were closed when China undercut world prices in the 1990s, and it will take a few years to restart production as there are many barriers to entry.[16] One example is the Mountain Pass mine in California, which is projected to reopen in 2011.[10][21] Other significant sites under development outside of China include the Nolans Project in Central Australia, the remote Hoidas Lake project in northern Canada,[22] and the Mount Weld project in Australia.[10][21][23] The Hoidas Lake project has the potential to supply about 10% of the $1 billion of REE consumption that occurs in North America every year.[24] Vietnam signed an agreement in October 2010 to supply Japan with rare earths[25] from its northwestern Lai Ch
.
...