China in The World (CITW) Summit 2026

I presented in a lightning talk titled “Mining the Loophole: How BRI-Aligned Nickel Projects Exploit Indonesia’s PSN Status to Override Small-Island Protections.” The presentation explored the critical intersection of the global energy transition and environmental justice by examining how extractive industries bypass legal protections for Indonesia’s vulnerable small islands. I detailed how projects leverage domestic regulatory loopholes, particularly National Strategic Project (PSN), to override Supreme Court and Constitutional Court safeguards. By tracing developments across Wawonii, Penebang, Poto, and Gag islands, the talk mapped how Chinese-linked capital and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) networks embed themselves through complex joint ventures and supply chains, demonstrating that formal domestic ownership often obscures true control over these upstream critical mineral nodes.

I argued that relying on stronger safeguards is no longer adequate for these highly vulnerable ecosystems. Ultimately, the core of the talk demanded a fundamental shift away from normalising these regions as “sacrifice zones,” calling instead for the establishment of strictly enforceable “no-go zones” that halt mining expansion and urging foreign capital to stop exploiting host-country regulatory loopholes.