UK criticises dependency on China for rare metals

UK criticises dependency on China for rare metals
by AFP Staff Writers
London (AFP) Dec 15, 2023

The UK has been left "vulnerable" over its dependency on China for critical minerals needed to make key everyday items such as smartphones, British lawmakers said in a report Friday.

The Foreign Affairs Committee, a cross-party panel of parliamentarians, highlighted the fallout from the UK's dependence on the world's second biggest economy for rare metals such as lithium and cobalt.

"The UK's critical minerals supply chains are vulnerable due to our continuing dependence on autocracies -- in particular China -- and the inaction of successive UK governments," the report concluded.

Entitled "A rock and a hard place: building critical mineral resilience", the study described critical minerals as possessing "strategic significance to the UK".

It added they were "essential" to the nation's "economic security and to meeting... climate change targets".

The report follows the government's launch last year of the UK's first critical minerals strategy aimed at improving security of the key commodities.

The committee criticised "the government's decision not to assess the vulnerabilities and dependencies in the UK's industrial supply chains before producing" the strategy.

It called on the Conservative government, led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, "to publish specific targets for priority sectors and to provide a more detailed implementation plan".

Committee chair Alicia Kearns, a lawmaker within Sunak's party, noted that "from F35 fighter jets to the batteries in our phones, critical minerals are the building blocks of many modern technologies.

"They are integral to every-day living, the green transition and our nation's defence."

But she added that the UK needed "to confront the weakness created by our dependency on a single state: China. These minerals power modern life and if China pulls the plug, we will all pay the price."

Outside the UK, the European Union last month agreed a plan to secure its own supply of critical raw materials, as Brussels seeks to reduce its dependence on other countries, notably China.

Brussels is particularly concerned about falling behind during the transition to cleaner technologies that rely on the critical minerals.

China is widely seen as having already made great strides because of its access to raw materials, while the United States has poured billions into subsidies for green tech.

Critical raw materials, including rare metal tungsten, are needed to make the most of the electrical products consumers use today.