Control Without Ownership: How Chinaโs Party-Business Networks Dominate Indonesiaโs Mineral Supply Chains
In 2024, when Jiangsu Delong, the worldโs second-largest stainless-steel producer, filed for bankruptcy, several Chinese firms and state-owned enterprises quietly absorbed its Indonesian assets. Among them was China First Heavy Industries, a state-owned enterprise founded in 1954 as one of Chinaโs early Soviet-backed industrial projects. Today, China First Heavy Industries supplies military-grade metals to Chinaโs military, including reactor vessels for nuclear submarines. For a manufacturer embedded deeply in Chinaโs naval industrial base, securing nickel feedstock for specialty steels is crucial.The episode reveals Chinaโs strategy for critical minerals: Incentivizing access to upstream assets for Chinese firms reduces the risk of supply The post Control Without Ownership: How Chinaโs Party-Business Networks Dominate Indonesiaโs Mineral Supply Chains appeared first on War on the Rocks.