China ramps up mineral exploration to secure resource self-sufficiency Amid US Rivalry

China is significantly increasing state support for domestic mineral exploration as part of President Xi Jinping’s push for resource self-sufficiency, especially as tensions with the US over strategic minerals escalate.

Financial Times explores in a recent article that over the past year, at least half of China’s 34 provincial-level governments, including key resource-rich regions like Xinjiang, have introduced plans to boost subsidies and expand access to mineral exploration. This funding surge aims to secure critical resources for technologies such as semiconductors, electric vehicles, and robotics, which are central to both China’s and the US’s economic strategies.

Xiong Zili, director of the Ministry of Natural Resources' geological exploration and management department, explained that recent breakthroughs in mineral exploration have greatly enhanced China’s ability to safeguard key industrial and supply chains. He stressed that the new exploration plans are specifically designed to boost domestic energy resources and secure “strategic” minerals.

China currently dominates the global market, producing 30 of the 44 critical minerals tracked by the US Geological Survey. As a result, the competition for these resources has become a key geopolitical issue between China and the US. In response, President Donald Trump has prioritized domestic mining efforts, along with securing access to critical minerals abroad in regions like Greenland, Ukraine, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since Xi took power in 2012, he has pushed for China’s self-reliance in science and technology, a goal that has become more urgent as tensions with the US have intensified. Beijing’s control over mineral supply chains has become an important tool in its ongoing trade and tech conflict with Washington. Since 2022, the Chinese government has committed over Rmb100bn ($13.8bn) annually to geological exploration.

In the past year, China has also tightened its control over exports of critical minerals, many essential for chip manufacturing, such as gallium, germanium, and tungsten. These moves are a direct response to US export restrictions on technology to China.

Xinjiang, a region rich in resources but economically disadvantaged, has significantly increased its support for geological exploration, raising funding to Rmb650mn in 2025 from Rmb150mn in 2023. The region has also ramped up the issuance of mining exploration rights to unprecedented levels.

China’s efforts to secure control of global resources also extend abroad. According to reports, China has provided $57bn in loans over the past two decades, funding the mining of copper, cobalt, nickel, lithium, and rare earths in developing countries.

In addition, Xi’s government has introduced policies to safeguard strategic resources. In 2021, it moved to block foreign investments in critical minerals such as tungsten, rare earths, and uranium, further consolidating Beijing’s control over these essential resources.

By Naila Huseynova