China building iron ore hub in Africa

It seems Chinese state planners have realized their glaring vulnerability, high dependence on iron ore from Australia. Perhaps that is why China is looking at an impoverished but mineral rich country in West Africa, Guinea, as the potential partner that would free it from the dependence on Australia, which has turned a foe after joining Quad.

Guinea sits atop the world's largest reserve of untapped high-quality iron ore. Surely it is no coincidence, then, that on 4th March 2021, the first batch of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Guinea, one of the first nations to receive the Chinese gift. 

The change in Chinese strategy can be best understood by reading two briefs. The stock market turmoil linked to US investment firm Archegos Capital Management appears to have hit Japan's biggest financial player, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Its security unit said it faces a potential loss estimated at $300 million at a European unit.

In worrying news for Apple, its partner and top iPhone assembler Foxconn said that the global chip shortage will cut its shipments by 10% a rare acknowledgment that shows some of the world's biggest consumer names might face headwinds from the supply crunch rocking the tech industry.

Further clarity can be obtained by a quick review of rise and fall of Japan.
 
"No other nation at the present time is spending so large a part of its revenue on naval preparations," military author Hector Bywater wrote in the 1921 book "Sea-Power in the Pacific." But Japan had a critical weakness: lack of steel. Japan's ambition to become the dominant Pacific naval power was brought to a standstill when the US imposed a steel embargo in 1917.
  

Courtesy: Nikkei Asia