The Coming China Wars: Where They Will Be Fought and How They Can Be Won, Revised and Expanded Edition

The Heavy Appetites of China’s Heavy Manufacturing Model

Chinese geologists estimate that the demand for minerals over the next 30 years may exceed product by as much as a factor of five. The projections are staggering: 5.3–6.8 million tons of copper by 2023 and 13 million tons of aluminum by 2028.

—Asia Pacific Bulletin

In choosing to be the “factory floor” of the world, China has hitched its star to a heavy manufacturing model that, in less than three short decades, has transformed the country from a quiet agricultural backwater into one of the world’s largest consumers of metals, minerals, lumber, and other raw materials. China’s strategy is different from that other emerging behemoth, India, which is focusing much less on heavy manufacturing ...