China’s International Mining on the Global Playscape
January 13, 2025
Audrey Han
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January 13, 2025
Audrey Han
Resolved: The People’s Republic of China should substantially reduce its international extraction of natural resources.
In the status quo, China maintains a heavy dominance over the extraction of natural resources globally. Specific elements include gallium (98.7%), magnesium (95%), tungsten (82.7%), and over 60% of rare earth minerals. China tightens its hold by controlling most of the refining process as well, with over 90% of the world’s refineries that make these natural resources usable located in China, successfully finalizing its vertical integration.
China’s dominance first began in the early 1990s as part of its journey to amass international influence and power. Through national plans and specific plans for each province on raw materials that created strict guidelines and quotas for production, China established an industrial sector that was primed for cheap extraction and labor. Lower environmental regulations, cheap labor, and economies of scale were also factors that cemented China’s position as a natural resource powerhouse. Today, we see a similar revolution happening, specifically through the Belt and Road Initiative, a massive project China undertook to increase its influence in developing countries in the African and Asian continents through investments and mining.
There are many benefits as such, including China’s significant progress in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, becoming a leader in the green revolution, EV production, solar panels, and wind farms. However, narrowing the perspective, China’s investment in international extraction is a double-edged sword for the foreign countries themselves. While there has been evidence of monetary gain, where China’s investment has allowed countries like Congo or South Africa to increase the size of their exports and put themselves on the global market, it comes with consequences of exacerbating child labor, severe environmental degradation, and corruption.
This topic is perfect for a neocolonialism or imperialism kritik. Definitionally, neocolonialism is the act where a country, often developed, exerts control or influence over a developing country through means similar to colonialism, like conditional aid, economic pressure, and debt-trapping; it is a branch of imperialism.
It can be argued that China’s mineral extraction resources are a form of debt-trapping. In countries like Congo, Sri Lanka, and countries in Central America, China will invest heavily in mineral extraction projects, often loaning extremely high amounts of money. In 2025, some of the world’s poorest countries now owe a total of 22 billion dollars of debt to China as a consequence of the BRI and other extraction projects. Within the actual mines themselves, the common people face little to no advantages. The conditions in the mines are extremely dangerous, are threatened with dismissal if they speak out, and no significant increases in jobs have been observed. The workers are paid very little, creating a cycle of exploitation for cheap labor that has no actual benefits to the country itself, similar to colonization.
Congo:
One of the most prominent examples of this can be seen in the country of Congo. If you’re arguing lay, you can just read this without the K.
In the status quo, China controls over 80% of Congo's cobalt mines. Yet, as a result of heavy investment in Congolese mines, the growth of unregulated mines has skyrocketed because government officials turn a blind eye to child labor, and the lack of safety regulations has already caused several deaths. Without proper protection, workers are exposed to deadly levels of arsenic, lead, and cyanide, meaning that communities near the mines face disproportionate levels of cancer, premature deaths, and birth defects. The unstable construction of the mines themselves also makes them extremely vulnerable to collapse, which can kill hundreds of people. However, not only does China not implement any regulations, they fuel the corruption found in the mines. There are more than 450 illegal mines that the Chinese control in one province of Congo alone, often in terrible conditions. It’s this exact profit that funds the genocide currently occurring in Congo. Much of the profit made through minerals is used to fund arms, adding oil to the fire and contributing to the mass violence in the region between the DRC and M23 rebels.
China is actively fueling the violence that plagues the Congolese region, an ethnic genocide that has killed at least 6 million people. To add another layer of analysis, Chinese resource extraction is also the exact thing that prevents Congo from escaping the cycle of exploitation and violence. Corruption has caused Congo's economy to be one of the least competitive in the world because of how deeply it’s permeated businesses, rendering fair competition impossible. This means that even if Congo wants to look towards other investors or find its global footing outside of Chinese resource extraction, it’s nearly impossible.
As a result, the Congolese genocide will continue. It’s already labeled as one of the worst human rights crises in the world, where people are running out of clean food and water. The Congolese genocide also stands out as one of the worst eras to live for women, where sexual assault and rape have become increasingly widespread, marking the potential for a structural violence framework as well.
Esoteric Climate Change Links:
In the status quo, the Earth is rapidly teetering towards an irreversible point of global warming. There has barely been any progress in climate change; in fact, the situation is getting more and more dire, as 2024 was Earth's hottest year, showing an upward trend in global warming. It’s evident that we are not doing enough, and we must act now more than ever because if we don’t lower the Earth’s temperature by 2030, it will reach a point of no return.
China is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. However, this argument remains extremely flexible given how there can be many links.
The first one is the illegal logging link. In the international lumber and agriculture extraction industry, China is directly linked to the loss of 400,000 hectares of tropical forest annually, with nearly 70% of it being illegal. Illegal deforestation is especially dangerous to the environment as it’s untracked, unregulated, and releases huge amounts of stored carbon while decimating wildlife. However, illegal logging is directly and uniquely linked to climate change because it use slash-and-burn tactics to clear large patches of land, often involving fire. Compared to legal logging, which uses mechanical tools or controlled burning, releasing a lot less emission particulate. Illegal logging directly accelerates climate change, and Chinese investment in international extraction simply exacerbates this issue, as their environmental policies are less strict, allowing illegal logging to occur.
Another link is water contamination and pollution. Resource extraction creates mine tailings and slag, often containing toxic chemicals like cyanide, arsenic, lead, and many more that can easily leak into water sources if not properly managed and contained. Unfortunately, China has a bloody history of waste containment. Due to poor wastewater management, toxic chemicals were found to leak into the groundwater discharge, reaching several farms and killing crops, poisoning the food, and introducing toxins that lead to disorders, infections, and even death.
If you want to run a structural violence framework, it’s important to note how water polluted from mines disproportionately affects impoverished villages in Africa, where the poorest are often the most exposed to the toxic chemicals released through extraction.
A hidden link you can add to your case is that not only does China have poor wastewater management, but it also intentionally downplays the severity of the leak incidents, preventing proper aid from being sent to those in need. One of the most severe examples of this is how, in Zambia, the second-largest city (Kitwe) had its water supply temporarily shut down due to a mine leak. After China sent aid, they left and announced that everything was cleaned up and functional again. However, months later, it was found that there were 1.5 million tonnes of toxic chemicals released, over 30x higher than what Sino-Metals claimed, much more than what they offered aid for. The amount was so high that it was found that anyone who ingested the contaminated water faced a significant long-term risk of organ damage and cancer. Tragically, over 21 million people depended on the river that was polluted for water. The fact that China covers up their accidents make them much more damaging for the environment, because improper or inadequate supplies are sent, resulting in silent toxins that slowly leach into the environment.
The impact of any climate change argument can be linked to extinction for a tech argument. For lay judges or SV cases, you can link in to how climate change disproportionately impacts impoverished or marginalized communities, leading to lower life expectancies and other health consequences.
Deep Sea Mining:
This is a much more tech argument, but in the status quo, the ISA regulates mining in international waters, controlling over half of international waters, where most resources lie. China maintains control over deep-sea mining through its influence over ISA rule-making, as well as creating contracts to rapidly deploy technology in international waters. On the other hand, since the United States did not ratify UNCLOS, it has no jurisdiction to make ISA contracts, leading it to fall behind in the race for deep-sea mining. In a combination of resource depletion and land degradation, as well as rare earth minerals restrictions, it’s becoming increasingly imperative that the United States find another source of rare earth minerals to fuel the AI and technology development race.
On the same note, deep-sea mining is uniquely critical to technological innovation through the extraction of polymetallic nodules, found in the ocean. Each nodule is heavy in cobalt and nickel, both essential minerals to semiconductor production, and by extension, AI. In fact, China’s ocean exploration and mining have been directly linked to their rapid technological advancements.
If the neg tries to make an alt-causes argument, it’s important to note that deep-sea mining is uniquely key to AI development because it’s one of the only practices that can fill the rapidly growing supply gap without destroying the environment, as well as the fact that the number of alt-causes is quickly dwindling due to environmental concerns and heightened demand.
The impact is catastrophic. As a result of deep-sea mining, China has been able to keep a steady pace with the United States in the AI tech race. Unfortunately, if we continue to let them have dominance over the ocean, this will give China a fatal leverage, as Chinese victory in AI can lead to a nuclear war.
Asian Regional Instability:
In the status quo, despite China’s growth in the service sector and technology sector, the economy overall is slumping. Right now, even though China did meet its growth goal of 5%, the situation has been slowly derailing with record-low levels of consumer spending. Additionally, it is important to note that despite the fear-mongering about Taiwan, China is unlikely to invade Taiwan, as its economy simply cannot handle the tariffs and economic consequences in the status quo. As a country already struggling, China knows that having the world shut its doors would only worsen its already downcast domestic market. Additionally, China has already invested in building soft power through diplomatic relations in hotspot areas like the Middle East and Central America. The reputation of a peacemaker is something critical that Xi Jinping intentionally builds, and he would not risk an invasion of Taiwan knowing that his global reputation and economy are at stake.
The aff, however, changes this.
The Chinese economy is heavily dependent on imports, with the majority of its cobalt, a vital resource needed for AI and green tech development, imported from Congo. The same imports are what drive the creation of semiconductors, something China desperately needs, as the majority of the semiconductor chain is reliant solely on imports, making China’s influence capricious.
Therefore, taking out China’s biggest source of revenue would undoubtedly cause massive panic.
China is a defensive realist, meaning that it only responds aggressively if facing a significant threat to power or influence. This can be seen on many occasions in the South China Sea, where in 2010, China ramped up militarization after the US challenged its jurisdiction. However, the issue is, when China’s supply chain gets crippled, they will be rapidly looking elsewhere to replace these semiconductors.
The only two factors stopping China from invading Taiwan previously were the economy and the global reputation of President Xi Jinping. Yet, in the situation that more than half of China’s international resource extraction would be stopped, this is already a brutal blow to the Chinese economy, one that pushes them to the brink of desperation; President Xi would no longer have to worry about keeping his economy afloat. His global reputation as well would also take a significant hit.
Nothing is holding President Xi back from invading Taiwan in a final act, especially given how Taiwan makes up 90% of global chip production. In a round, if you do some actor analysis, you can simply say that China would inevitably take this reduction in international resource extraction as an attempt to undermine power, something they’ve already empirically responded to negatively in the past.
An invasion of Taiwan goes nuclear.
AI Bubble:
In the status quo, similar to the Deep Sea Mining contention, China maintains dominance over deep-sea mining. However, passing the aff means that it creates a power vacuum in the international waters, with many countries already vying for more deep-sea resources like India, Kiribati, Norway, Russia and South Korea, taking advantage of this opportunity. With China’s fall from glory in the deep-sea mining industry, with a lessened economic power and global control, they will no longer be able to exert their monopolistic control over the ISA. Since China was the backbone of ISA regulations, with their fall, ISA rules can no longer be enforced as heavily, opening doors for the United States to come bargain and begin deep-sea mining as well, something we’ve already begun expressing interest in.
However, the issue is, with all of these countries rapidly gaining access to rare earth minerals and the resources needed to further technological and artificial intelligence development. There is a direct link between AI proliferation and supply of critical resources such as those found in polymetallic nodules or seafloor sulfides. The increased supply of raw resources is now open to countries all across the globe, meaning that several countries are all going to be innovating technology all at once.
On the surface, this may look like a positive consequence. Unfortunately, one of the biggest drawbacks for AI is the rapidly growing AI bubble, or the concept where the AI industry is growing at an unsustainable rate, with expensive investments and projects that will ultimately “burst” one day, leading to a sudden collapse in investment and the economy and industry as a whole. This can be summarized through the boom-bust cycle, a phenomenon empirically observed in historical tech advancements, with the AI industry already exhibiting symptoms. Only 1% of major AI companies will be able to remain afloat after the initial hype fades, especially since the costs of innovating AI are increasingly expensive; the remaining companies collapse, leading to the AI bubble crashing.
Another tech impact that could be linked is how an increase in AI is directly linked to an increase in hallucinations and mistakes, which eventually escalates into war and nuclear conflict.
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