According to a statement on the website of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China dated May 9, 2025:
To thoroughly implement the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, on May 9, 2025, the Office of the National Export Control Coordination Mechanism organized a meeting in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, with participation from the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of State Security, General Administration of Customs, Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate, and State Post Bureau. The meeting focused on launching a special operation to combat the smuggling and illegal export of strategic minerals, outlining specific tasks and measures.
The meeting emphasized that strengthening export controls on strategic mineral resources is critical to national security and development interests. Since the implementation of export controls on strategic minerals such as gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten, and medium-to-heavy rare earths, certain foreign entities have colluded with domestic illicit actors, continuously devising new smuggling methods to evade crackdowns. To prevent the illegal outflow of strategic minerals, curb smuggling activities, safeguard national security, promote compliant trade, and ensure the stability of industrial and supply chains, combating the smuggling and illegal export of strategic minerals has become an urgent and critical task.
The meeting underscored the need for all relevant departments to focus on the strategic minerals sector, strengthen source control, and form a coordinated enforcement approach. Efforts should target typical evasion tactics such as false declarations, concealed smuggling, and transshipment through "third countries," with a focus on cracking down on strategic mineral smuggling and illegal exports. Adhering to the rule of law, departments should improve coordination between administrative and criminal enforcement, expedite the handling and public disclosure of illegal export cases, thoroughly investigate illicit entities and smuggling networks, and deliver a strong deterrent to violators.
The meeting called for departments to enhance the allocation and capacity building of enforcement and judicial resources to improve case-handling efficiency and enforcement outcomes; accelerate the development of intelligent enforcement information systems and strengthen cross-departmental and cross-regional enforcement collaboration; and deepen customs enforcement cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao to form a unified enforcement front. These measures aim to ensure the achievement of national export control objectives and resolutely safeguard national security and development interests.
