Critical minerals: The West is learning the wrong lesson from China - Lowy Institute

A Lowy Institute critique of Western critical-minerals strategy directly signals policy risk for Australia's sovereign resource security and industrial decoupling from China. If the West miscalibrates its response to China's dominance of rare-earths and battery supply chains, Australia may inherit a suboptimal or fragmented allied approach to Pillar 1 (Resource Sovereignty) and Pillar 5 (Decoupling), weakening negotiating leverage and self-sufficiency timelines.