Raw materials
China reports smuggling rarer earth through secret services
According to China’s state security, foreign intelligence agencies wanted to get rare earth from the country – with sometimes creative methods. Finally, Beijing limited the export of further technology.
According to Chinese information, foreign intelligence agencies are said to have tried to smuggle rare earths from the People’s Republic. As China’s state security announced, the agents have wanted to work together with “lawbreakers” in Germany in recent years in order to steal the raw materials that are important for industry by shipping.
According to the information, the authorities covered the fact that packages were declared incorrectly with “non-Chinese origin” or another contents of goods. The secret services would have instructed people in China, for example, instead to show “solder fat” or other ordinary products to avoid export control. The metals in other products were also hidden, such as plastic dolls or water bottles.
Again and again export restrictions
The authority did not explain what secret services it was and when the incidents were blown up. According to state security, the “paths for the illegal export” were interrupted.
China had long occupied the export of important raw materials with export controls. For many of these metals, the People’s Republic is the world’s leading producer. In October 2023, Beijing, for example, restricted the export of graphite, which is important for battery production.
Also battery technology now on a control list
In April in the trade dispute with the United States, China controlled controls for the export of seven rare earths and made of them, which had stimulated industries worldwide. Beijing justified the measure by the fact that the raw materials were goods for civil and military benefits. Companies had to prove their final use in detail in a complex application process.
Recently, Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce also relied on technologies that are important for the production of batteries for electric cars and for processing lithium on an export control list. Anyone who wants to transfer these technologies from CHINA through trade or economic cooperation must apply for an official license, it said in a message.
dpa
Source: Stern
