Canada Orders Chinese Companies to Divest From Critical Minerals Sector
Canada this week ordered three Chinese companies to divest themselves from Canadian businesses operating in its critical minerals sector, saying the foreign investments raised national security concerns and threaten the country’s critical mineral supply chains. Canada ordered Sinomine Rare Metals Resources to divest itself from Power Metals; Chengze Lithium International to divest itself from Lithium Chile; and Zangge Mining Investment to divest itself from Ultra Lithium.
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Canada said it examined all three companies’ investments through a “multi-step national security review process,” adding that it “will act decisively when investments threaten our national security and our critical minerals supply chains.”
The country said it’s “determined to work with Canadian businesses to attract foreign direct investments from partners that share our interests and values” but will continue to scrutinize deals that could harm its security. “Canada’s critical minerals are key to the future prosperity of our country,” it said. “We will continue to encourage and work with Canadian businesses that require investment capital, by helping to identify and find partnerships that will serve in the best interest of Canadian businesses, workers, and the economy.”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson criticized the move, saying Nov. 2 that Canada has “overstretched the concept of national security and placed arbitrary curbs on normal trade and investment cooperation between China and Canadian companies.” The spokesperson said Canada should stop “suppressing” Chinese companies. “It does no good to the development of the target sectors, and hurts the stability of global industrial and supply chains,” the spokesperson said during a regular news conference in Beijing, according to a transcript in English provided by the Chinese Embassy in Washington. “We call for a fair, just and nondiscriminatory environment for Chinese companies doing business in Canada.”