China’s state security authority warns against foreign espionage threats to rare-earth industry
By Global Times
Published: May 30, 2024
China’s Ministry of State Security on Thursday issued an article warning of foreign espionage agencies targeting China’s rare-earth industry, engaging in theft and sabotage, posing threat to the country’s natural resource security Authorities vowed to crack down on illegal activities to protect national security and promote sustainable development in the industry.
Rare earths, also known as “industrial gold,” are important strategic mineral resources that are nonrenewable. China has abundant rare-earth resources, with reserves ranking first in the world.
As an important global supplier of rare earths, China accounts for around 30 per cent of the world’s rare-earth resources and over 90 per cent of global market supply. The domestic rare-earth industry not only has abundant resources, but also has the advantages related to advanced mining, smelting, and separation technologies, as well as a complete industrial system, standing at a leading position in the industry, said the ministry.
However, for a long time, foreign intelligence agencies have closely monitored insider information of the country’s rare-earth industry and have carried out espionage activities, according to the security authority.
In one case, the national security authorities have discovered that a foreign company was using its operations in China as a cover to establish relationships within the rare-earth industry in China, by using emotional manipulation and financial incentives to gather intelligence such as extraction, processing, and trade, the ministry said.
During recent years, certain Western countries have used the media to slander and accuse Chinese rare-earth companies operating overseas of causing serious environmental damage, creating a justification for long-arm jurisdiction, and using administrative measures to sanction Chinese companies. They also actively recruit rare-earth industry-related technical talent to seize the core technology, the ministry noted.
Some overseas institutions use legal cover to illegally recruit a large number of Chinese technical experts through a third country to transfer the rare-earth mining, separation, and other export control technologies and industrial chains. The situation of core technology leakage in related fields remains severe, the ministry said.
In January, the ministry also released a comic on its WeChat account emphasizing the importance of protecting key mineral resources for national security, and the espionage activities have been involved in the global competition for rare-earth minerals.
China has stressed a focus on the high-quality development of the rare-earth industry, with measures strengthened to govern rare-earth exports.
However, some individuals in China have been lured by foreign companies and driven by their own interests to engage in illegal activities such as rare-earth smuggling.
Some overseas companies with ties to a certain government and military forces are enticing Chinese nationals to smuggle controlled rare-earth items by offering large orders as bait. These companies are also engaging in trade with sanctioned entities. The illegal export and misuse of rare-earth items pose a threat to national security, the ministry said.
Global Times
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The new national security comic episode shows espionage activities in global competition for rare earths
Espionage activities involved in global competition for rare earths
By Liu Caiyu Published: Jan 21, 2024
A comic released by China's Ministry of State Security (MSS) on its WeChat account on Sunday showed safeguarding the security of key mineral resources is an important part of national security and that infiltration, bribery, and espionage activities have been involved in the global competition for rare earth minerals.
The issue, the first in the storyline, depicts how national security police officers in Jiangzhou, which is a pseudo city, discover a group of suspicious individuals conducting exploration and mapping activities in the outskirts of the Xishan Mining Area, seemingly extracting ore samples in a secretive manner.
In the comic, titled The Secret Special Investigation Division (SPD), the Xishan Mining Area is portrayed as a place where important and scarce mineral products are stored. According to the comic, key materials for the development of "gravity cannons" and breakthroughs in superconducting technology were provided by this mining area.
In the story, a man with long hair is a spy leader who commands the group of suspicious individuals. He lies about conducting topographic surveys in the name of real estate development and offers workers a generous reward.
In a previous issue, the comic series featured several excerpts, including a scene where a person of Western appearance is caught for suspected violation of the anti-espionage law. The comic series also introduces several main characters.
Li Wei, an expert on national security at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, told the Global Times on Sunday that the comic illustrates the diversity, complexity, and sharpness involved in maintaining national security.
Li Baiyang, an associate professor of intelligence studies with Nanjing University, said the mining area represents China's rare earth mineral resources in reality. Rare earth metals, known as "industrial gold," are key materials for the development of advanced military equipment, new energy, high-performance motors, and new materials in high-tech research and development.
According to statistics from the Institute of World Economy and Politics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, global strategic critical mineral resources are highly concentrated in a few countries. China's published list of critical minerals overlaps with the US in 21 categories and with the European Union in 17 categories.
With the escalation of China-US trade friction and increasing global geopolitical tensions, the competition for rare earths has risen to the level of national security. For a long time, countries such as the US, Japan, and those in the EU have coveted China's rare earth mineral resources, attempting to control the global rare earth industry chain. They have even resorted to infiltration, bribery, and espionage to achieve their goals, Li Baiyang noted.
Li Baiyang also mentioned several details worth noting from the comic. The illegal surveying and mapping that those suspicious individuals are engaging in is a typical method used by spies.
In response to the major risk posed by the leakage of critical geographic information and surveying and mapping data, the newly revised Counter-Espionage Law and Data Security Law have included critical and sensitive data in the scope of national security, experts noted.
The ministry previously stated in an article that key mineral resources refer to metal elements and their deposits that have irreplaceable and significant applications in advanced industries such as new materials, new energy, next-generation information technology, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, high-end equipment manufacturing, and national defense.
They are the critical material foundation that supports energy transformation, technological progress, and industrial upgrading. Just as human life can not do without vitamins, key mineral resources are the "vitamins" of strategic industries and are crucial for national development and security, the ministry stated.
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