Abstract: The paper briefly summarized the distributions of lithium resources in the world,as well as the status and trends of global lithium exploitation.The salt lake brine is dominating the lithium resources exploration and utilization,with its advantage of lower cost and higher quality.Due to resource constraints and technical barriers,monopolistic competition appeared in the lithium resource industry.Responses of China include effectively utilization of lithium resources in China through technique innovation,and reasonably exploitation abroad especially such as in South America.Extending the industry chain to the higher end is of more strategic importance for enhancing international competitive of China lithium industry.