China will stockpile critical resources and strengthen energy security to avoid trade shocks

China is prioritising “strategic material security” under its new five-year plan, which elevates the supply and domestic stockpiling of critical resources to a matter of national security. Under its 15th five-year plan, Beijing has placed “key commodities” on the same strategic level as food and energy security, pledging a more proactive approach to bolstering “energy and resource supply security” by “preventing and mitigating major risks in systemically important areas”. To achieve this, the...