CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Vampire Planet: China’s (Green) Economic Imperialism

Image by Getty and Unsplash .

This week in the Anthropocene

We often laud China for its boom in renewable energy projects, but seem to ignore the fact that it’s still building coal-fired power plants at a faster pace than any other country. Experts are questioning whether China’s gains in green energy will be clouded by the black smoke billowing from its robust fleet of coal plants. Air pollution in China kills 2 million a year.

On the topic of China’s “green” energy boom, it’s also important to note that many of the critical mineral operations key to its renewable projects are harming workers and the environment across South America and Africa. This week, as Trump landed for talks in Beijing, the feeble US Congress released a paper on China’s “mineral mafia”. The report wasn’t driven so much by criticism of China’s practices but by imperial jealousy. China dominates critical mineral mining in Africa, and the US doesn’t (but wants to). On China’s intentions in Africa, the usually spot-on Jason Hickel missed the mark, arguing that China is not engaging in green imperialism in Africa.

Some numbers. China controls 90% of Zimbabwe’s lithium supply and over 70% of the DRC’s copper and cobalt mining (the DRC holds 50% of the world’s cobalt). In Zambia, China and Canada dominate the copper industry. China also controls nearly 90% of global critical mineral processing. While Hickel points out that Chinese-backed development loans aren’t your typical “structural adjustment” loans that the IMF and World Bank dole out (thank God!), many of these loans are what we call “resource-backed loans.” This collateral (often in the form of natural resources like critical minerals) ensures that China will maintain access to Africa’s mineral supplies even if the countries can’t repay their loans. It’s a new form of forever debt, and it’s very, very bad.

China holds hundreds of billions of........

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