Beijing has formally escalated its critical minerals strategy by launching a coordinated, multi-agency campaign to enforce full-chain control over rare earth and strategic mineral exports, mobilizing more than a dozen central and provincial agencies to supervise mining, processing, licensing, and export operations. Authorities are targeting foreign circumvention and domestic collusion and framing this crackdown as a national security imperative. Joint operations aimed at dismantling smuggling networks and third-country transshipment routes are being run by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of State Security, and China Customs. At the same time, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is accelerating upstream resource development, expanding domestic exploration to ensure long-term supply for strategic industries and tightening its grip on a sector that underpins both its economic security and external leverage.
Trade Talks, Real Moves: PRC Locks Down Critical Minerals Behind the Scenes – Jamestown
