China warns of risk to critical resources, aims to strengthen domestic exploration and mining

China is ramping up its internal hunt for critically important minerals and energy resources to bolster strategic reserves, as Beijing doubles down on economic security and continues to warn of the rising risks associated with relying on external markets.

“China has a high degree of foreign dependence on some important mineral resources, and once the international situation changes, it will certainly affect economic security or even national security,” Wang Guanghua, the nation’s minister of natural resources, said in an interview with the state-run Xinhua on Thursday.

Wang added that China needs to promote a higher level of opening up and must plan ahead to “ensure domestic resource security” in the face of “special circumstances”.

Last month, the director of the State Key Laboratory of Safety and Health for Metal Mines was quoted by the Caixin media group as saying that around two-thirds of China’s strategic mineral production and supply was highly dependent on external sources. And this, Wang Yunmin reportedly said at a forum on raw materials, puts the country in a disadvantageous position on the global stage.

“International geopolitics has become an important factor affecting China’s resource supply,” he added.

Wang Yunmin, who is also an academic with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, noted how China’s acquisition of more than 10 kinds of important minerals depends mostly on external sources. He said these include iron ore at 82 per cent, chrome ore at 98 per cent, manganese ore at 96 per cent, cobalt ore at 95 per cent, nickel ore at 90 per cent, and both copper ore and oil at 78 per cent.