鈥淔oreign investors in Australia are required to follow Australian law,鈥 Chalmers said in a statement. 鈥淲e are doing what is necessary to protect the national interest and the integrity of our foreign investment framework.鈥
China鈥檚 control of rare earths and critical products is an escalating cause of concern to the United States and countries like Australia, after Donald Trump鈥檚 trade war prompted Beijing to restrict shipments of the materials. It has made similar moves before, including against Japan in 2010 during a territorial dispute.
China controls nearly all of the world鈥檚 heavy rare earth production and Australian Strategic Policy Institute senior fellow Ian Satchwell said the global superpower鈥檚 interests were seeking to exert influence over Northern Minerals.
鈥淎ustralia, with like-minded partner nations, is seeking to build alternative supply chains for rare earths and other critical minerals, and the Northern Minerals shenanigans are a very obvious example of China-linked bad faith investing to allegedly seek to disrupt those efforts,鈥 Satchwell said.
鈥淚n Australia鈥檚 case those rare earths are used for things such as F35 fighters, missiles attached to them and in the future, nuclear-powered submarines.鈥