Member

Anyone who believes that China will honour its deals as we expect should look at the rare earth metals and critical minerals it is supplying, because 90% of some of those rare earth metals are processed in or by China. The average car contains $200-worth of rare earth metals, as I learnt when I was on the Defence Committee and we visited Australia to look at this, but I am more interested in how much is in an F-35—it contains about 450 kg, give or take, of rare earth metals, many of which have a limited supply. All of this gives China huge leverage over the countries that need them. We are seeing a polarisation in the Indo-Pacific. The Philippines is now looking at hosting a permanent US base, and the same is true in northern Australia. Things that would never have been believed four or five years ago are happening now.