Highlights

• Chinese FDI in metals shifted dramatically after 2014: Australia’s share dropped from 33% to 4%, while Indonesia, the DRC, and Peru saw surges targeting battery-critical minerals like nickel, cobalt, and lithium.
• This rebalancing aligns with China’s electric vehicle and renewable energy ambitions, moving beyond bulk commodity security to construct integrated supply networks for strategic technologies.
• The study reveals China now bundles mining investments with infrastructure projects, creating economic interdependence while exposing Western supply chain vulnerabilities in critical minerals.

A new study [...] analyzes nearly twenty years of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in the global metal sector and identifies a decisive strategic realignment. Comparing 2005–2013 with 2014–2024, the authors document a clear shift away from large-scale investments in Australia’s iron ore and bauxite toward targeted stakes in battery and technology-critical minerals in Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Peru, Guinea, Chile, and Argentina. The study argues that this rebalancing coincides with China’s industrial upgrading in the 2010s, the expansion of electric vehicles and renewable energy systems, and the rollout of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). [...].