China Planning Enforcement Campaign for Illegal Exports of Critical Minerals
Beijing has launched a "special operation" to crack down on illegal exports of critical minerals, such as gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten and other rare earths, according to an unofficial translation of a May 9 Ministry of Commerce notice. The ministry said China's Office of the National Export Control Coordination Mechanism gathered agencies for a meeting to discuss how they can better stop export smuggling, specifically pointing to "overseas entities" that "have colluded with domestic illegal personnel" to evade Chinese export controls.
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Stopping "the smuggling export of strategic minerals has become an urgent and important task at present," the notice said.
The notice said the agencies should prioritize efforts to stop export smuggling and monitor for "typical evasion methods such as false reporting, concealment, smuggling, and 'third country' transshipment." It also said they should "speed up" work on announcing export enforcement cases, "dig deep into the illegal entities and smuggling networks behind the scenes, and resolutely strike deep and thoroughly to form a strong deterrent to criminals."
The agencies -- including the ministries of Commerce, Public Security and National Security, as well as the General Administration of Customs and others -- were ordered to "improve the level of case handling and crackdown results" and cooperate more closely. They also were asked to "form a joint force to ensure the achievement of national export control goals and resolutely safeguard national security and development interests."
Beijing has in recent years imposed export controls on a series of critical minerals that have historically been purchased by the U.S., the EU and other Western nations, including gallium, germanium and antimony (see 2307050018, 2310030035 and 2503260054).