China Frets About Its Dependence on Africa’s Resources As U.S. Muscles In April 17th, 2025
Via South China Morning Post, a look at how China has heavily invested to secure raw materials from African nations, but US accusations over those deals pose new risks:
A leading Chinese industry association has warned the country risks becoming too dependent on raw materials from individual nations in Africa, as the continent becomes a battleground in an intensifying global tussle for resources.
China’s vast manufacturing sector is heavily reliant on African countries to supply several crucial materials, with Guinea emerging as a dominant supplier of bauxite – an aluminium ore that is essential to make everything from cars to electronics.
Ge Honglin, head of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said this dependence could become a strategic vulnerability during a visit to the West African nation on Saturday, as he called for greater efforts to secure the bauxite supply chain.
“Internationally, greater attention must be paid to the risks of overconcentration in certain countries, ensuring safer development and acquisition of overseas resources,” Ge said, according to an article posted on the association’s website.
China’s imports of bauxite soared to 141.6 million tonnes in 2023, with the country relying on imports for 86.1 per cent of its supplies of the ore, according to a research note published by Dongxing Securities last year.
And Guinea provided most those imports. China’s bauxite imports from the West African country skyrocketed from 11.94 million tonnes in 2016 to 99.26 million tonnes in 2023, as Chinese industrial firms invested heavily in the nation.
Indonesia’s bauxite export ban, which came into force two years ago, has made China even more reliant on Guinea’s mines.
“The high concentration of bauxite imports in specific regions means that the supply from mining sources is increasingly vulnerable to potential event-driven risks,” said Dongxing Securities analyst Zhang Tianfeng in the report.
Meanwhile, China’s aggressive pursuit of critical minerals across Africa has alarmed Washington and sparked a global rare metals race on the continent.
On Monday, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent accused China of gaining foreign mining rights through “rapacious deals” in Latin America and Africa, and he vowed to prevent that during an interview with Bloomberg TV.
The United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been negotiating a “multibillion” deal since early April that would trade access to minerals in exchange for security, according to US President Donald Trump’s top Africa envoy.
The DRC is the leading global producer of cobalt, a key mineral in the production of lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and smartphones. The country also holds significant reserves of gold, diamonds and copper.
China already has large interests in DRC cobalt and copper mines, with Chinese state-owned creditors approving 19 loan commitments worth about US$12.85 billion for related mining projects in the country between 2000 and 2021.
The Chinese industry association stressed that the country should focus on boosting domestic supplies of key resources.
“Domestically, China should actively implement a new round of mineral exploration initiatives to increase bauxite reserves and production,” Ge said.
China is seeking a 3 per cent to 5 per cent increase in domestic bauxite resources by 2027, according to a government action plan unveiled last month.
The plan sets targets of enhancing the resilience and security of the aluminium supply chain, and encourages key industrial regions such as Shanxi and Henan provinces to explore co-mining projects.
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