Chinese companies are the largest shareholders in two Australian mines producing minerals vital for Beijing’s hypersonic missiles and nuclear programs, helping it overcome “severe challenges” to accessing key resources.
In a rare admission of its vulnerability, China says it depends on imports for its supply of zirconium, a little-known critical mineral. Australia is the world’s largest producer and supplies China with 41 per cent of its imports.
Not only did Australian regulators allow Beijing-backed companies to become major shareholders in the two Western Australia mines, the federal government even gave one of them a $160 million soft loan to help it into production.
Australia is supplying these raw materials vital for China’s military build-up, while at the same time signing up to be a partner of choice for the United States as it seeks to break Beijing’s stranglehold over the processing of rare earths and critical minerals.
[…]
Fleur_@aussie.zone 10 hours ago
I am way more concerned with how the profits from these mines are distributed to Australians as opposed to the strategic consequences of selling these resources to China.
Hotznplotzn@lemmy.sdf.org 7 hours ago
Given China’s aggression in the region against its neighbours - including Australia, with military manoeuvres of Chinese warships completing live-fire drills in Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone - and China’s recent rare earths export policy, this seems a bit strange. Even if we ignore for a moment that part of Australia profits are unnecessarily going to China, the strategic consequences for Australia could soon be severe.