Weaponised supply chains: How China turns economic centrality into geopolitical Leverage

China’s ability to turn supply chains into geopolitical ammunition has moved from strategic theory to real-world practice over the past few years. Once treated as a by-product of economic might, the nation’s dominance over key materials and manufacturing networks is increasingly being wielded as a coercive lever — not through overt military force, but by controlling the very inputs that underpin modern technology, defence and industrial capacity.

Central to this dynamic is China’s grip on rare earth elements (REEs) and other critical minerals that the global economy now treats as indispensable.

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