From the postwar era to intensified Chinese intervention: Variegated extractive regimes in the Philippines and Indonesia

Abstract

How did the Philippines and Indonesia end up with two different modes of extraction in relation to the present conjuncture of China’s massive mineral demand? Using historical and field research in both countries, we argue that both states constitute variegated extractive regimes, illustrating that their mining economies are connected to each other and to the global economy over time. We show this by examining the changing pattern of capital ownership in both mining economies during the postwar period (1950-1979) and the differing outcomes for sectoral reforms during the neoliberal restructuring era (1980-2000). Divergent responses to restructuring meant that Chinese firms pursued different types of investments during the neoliberal period (2001-), which we show in the cases of Iba, in the Zambales province of the Philippines, and of the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. In the Philippines, Chinese firms largely opted to work with local elites in artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) firms. In Indonesia, the government sought to attract large-scale Chinese firms to process raw nickel in integrated industrial parks. In sum, our paper illustrates that modes of Chinese mineral extraction and Chinese capital as a whole shape and are shaped by the historical structures of host countries.