Toward Decline
Chinese miner takes Belt and Road to PNG with $453m gold deal - AFR
Why it matters
China's Belt and Road penetration into PNG mining deepens Beijing's economic and political leverage in Australia's near abroad, fragmenting the South Pacific and reducing Australia's relative influence over critical resource flows and regional alignment. This pattern of Chinese resource capture in the Pacific directly erodes Australia's resource sovereignty and regional strategic positioning as Beijing locks in commodity access through debt-financed infrastructure and long-term mining concessions.
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