Welcome to HC tom. It's a real challenge to get 'real'...

Welcome to HC tom.
It's a real challenge to get 'real' intelligence on what is happening in China. Many here don't realise the difference between Western liberal democracies with generally free presses and internet social media etc. China's leadership and governance has none of these characteristics, and its current leader has centralised autocratic power around himself and his chosen accolytes to an extent not seen since Mao - as he seeks to challenge Trump and the world generally with his plan for global superpower status.
Interestingly, Xi and his family have had very significant interests in Chinese rare earth corporates for a long time, though ostensibly these are now claimed to have been divested.
There is a great deal of supposedly detailed China production detail, prices, and regular RE policy pronouncements available on the Net, and it can be enlightening at times to find these and Google auto-translate them. My friend ausheds is particularly good at finding this stuff, and often posts here.
Good luck!