China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) has issued a warning that foreign intelligence and espionage agencies are trying to collaborate with domestic criminals to steal China’s rare-earth resources using shipping and delivery networks, posing a major threat to national security.
According to the MSS, one particular country, —unable to independently produce or process rare metals, has resorted to accumulating these materials through various unofficial means to ensure its own supply.
Investigations revealed that a key contractor from that country engaged in illegal practices, including disguising Chinese rare metals with fake labels suggesting they are of non-Chinese origin for re-export. Additionally, they tried to smuggle restricted Chinese materials by misreporting contents, altering product names, using small batch deliveries, and changing shipping routes.
With concrete evidence, China’s national security agencies, working with other relevant departments, lawfully intervened to halt these illegal exports, successfully protecting the country’s strategic resources and security.
Rare-earth elements, known as “industrial gold” and foundational to new material industries, place China in a globally dominant position due to its leading role in reserves, output, consumption, and exports. The MSS noted that some foreign entities closely monitor China’s rare-earth sector and engage in elaborate espionage to extract them.
The MSS revealed that foreign spies and their local collaborators have tried to smuggle rare-earth materials by disguising their nature, taking advantage of China’s shipping and delivery networks.
Methods include misdeclaring rare-earths as unregulated products, forging technical and composition data, or falsely identifying valuable elements like dysprosium and terbium as low-grade materials such as ferroalloys or solder paste to dodge controls.
Smuggling methods also involved hiding undeclared rare-earths within legal cargo. For example, raw materials were processed into intermediate products, mixed into tile materials, or hidden inside items like mannequins or bottled water.
These illicit goods were then labeled ambiguously as “mechanical components” or “alloy parts” to evade scrutiny and bypass export laws.
The MSS reaffirmed its commitment to acting within legal boundaries to detect and prevent infiltration, sabotage, and espionage efforts targeting China’s critical mineral resources, ensuring strong protection of national security.
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