The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has said it is open to a deal with the United States, under which Kinshasa would exchange its valuable rare-earth minerals for defense and security assistance aimed at resolving an armed conflict that has resulted in thousands of casualties in the country's volatile eastern region.
Clashes between M23 rebels and Congolese forces have been going on in eastern DRC since late 2021. Thousands of people have been killed and more than 3 million others have been displaced from their homes.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi recently proposed selling mineral rights to the United States in exchange for military support, seeking to secure military training, equipment and possibly direct U.S. military involvement to support the DRC army's fight against the M23 rebels. The rebels are reported to be backed by Rwanda, a charge Kigali has denied.
Earlier this month, the United States expressed interest in the deal, saying it would grant American firms access to minerals for its energy and defense technologies.
Some analysts in the DRC are optimistic that the talks will result in a win-win partnership that will not jeopardize the economic interests of Kinshasa's other major trading partners.
"I don't foresee any clash. I just see some sort of complementarity. The U.S. can come in places where they are needed, where the government believes they can strike a good deal - a deal that will benefit the people that will benefit the security of the country," said Lino Nshimba, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the DRC.
The DRC is rich in cobalt, coltan, lithium, uranium and other minerals used for advanced technologies.
Many of its citizens hope a deal with the U.S. will benefit them.
"If they are going to come and exploit our minerals and share a percentage of the profits with us and help us restore peace, then that is a good idea, that I will support," said George Yav, a money changer.
Officials from the DRC presidency said a Congolese delegation is expected to travel to Washington D.C. next month to discuss the deal further.
DR Congo considers minerals-for-security deal with US
CEO of ThyssenKrupp, Germany's industrial and technology giant, hailed China's rapid development in manufacturing and artificial intelligence sectors and expressed hope of deepening cooperation with the country.
Miguel Angel Lopez Borrego shared his insights in an interview with China Central Television on the occasion of the China Development Forum 2025 held in Beijing from March 23 to 24.
Borrego highlighted China's significant achievements in manufacturing and innovation in the past decades.
"So 30 years ago we came to the country. We had a great market in front of us, we had qualified workforce and we had the opportunity to serve local customers and also multinational customers. Meanwhile, this has been turned into not only manufacturing but also innovation, being R and D centers not only for China, but for the world, not only manufacturing for China, but for the world," he said.
ThyssenKrupp has invested over 100 million yuan (about 13.78 million U.S. dollars) annually in China's automobile sector over the past three years.
Borrego expressed optimism about strengthening collaboration with China in the electric vehicle (EV) industry.
"I think China is right now the most advanced country in terms of electric vehicle. We are now also taking advantage of the very, very large market that is created in the last years with local EV manufacturers. We are providing to them the bumpers, shock absorbers and also steering elements and we are prepared for the collaboration to go with them also to other places in the world. We believe that they will play a more and more important role in also the world market. For sure with some different supply chain models compared to today, because today we see a lot of export of EVs from China to other countries. In future, I believe we will see more also local manufacturing side of Chinese players in other countries, in order to make sure that customers are served better, and of course then we will be going with them," he said.
Borrego also hailed China's surging AI innovation capabilities, noting that DeepSeek delivers impressive results while using minimal energy.
"Obviously, I cannot be comparing on a professional level between DeepSeek and ChatGPT. I think the most interesting difference is the lower usage of energy. Because of the different method how to search the data and this is of course something that is very relevant because many, many increasing applications would take us for completely different levels of energy consumption. And that's the reason why it's so important to think already how to reduce. So the top people, top mathematician, top IT people have been very much surprised by one tenth of usage power of DeepSeek,so Tremendously advanced," he said.
German industrial giant CEO hails China's manufacturing, AI development, seeks further cooperation
