Beijing will impose export restrictions on gallium and germanium, two key metals needed to manufacture semiconductors and other electronics, and which are primarily sourced from China. The move has raised concern over an intensifying global battle on the supply of key chipmaking technologies.
Gulzar Imam is only one of many armed separatist leaders unhappy at China’s extraction of Balochistan’s natural resources.
In 2008, the Afghan government and a state-owned Chinese company signed a deal to mine copper at Mes Aynak, just south of Kabul. The Taliban renewed the agreement. So why is the project stalled?
At the heart of the relationship between the People's Republic of China and the Democratic Republic of Congo is money — but a series of one-sided deals favoring China in the past may have the Congolese more cautious when it comes to negotiating (and renegotiating) deals in the future.
In 1992, Chinese state-owned Shougang Group won a bid to privately operate an iron mine in Peru, the largest Chinese investment in Latin America at that time. Shougang Hierro Mine in Marcona was immediately profitable, but it has been hounded by labor disputes ever since.
Chinese miners are vulnerable as the CAR’s weak government, Russia’s Wagner Group, and a number of rebel groups fight it out for domination of the poor country’s rich mineral resources.
A Chinese state-owned company has controlled a lead and zinc mine in Duddar in Pakistan’s Balochistan Province since 2014. The mine gives steady work to some locals, paying around $100 a month, which is good for the impoverished area. Other residents just feel exploited.
Ottawa is under more and more pressure to shield Canada’s elections and its critical minerals from Chinese influence. But these are big and complicated tasks that will likely further strain ties with Beijing.
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China is Peru's largest trading partner. Within this South American country, Chinese corporations have an opportunity to change public perception about the benefits — and drawbacks — of "Chinese influence."