China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a post on its WeChat account that safeguarding China’s critical minerals is among its most important tasks. “Critical mineral resources are the important basis for serving the development of new industries. They are the top priority for resource security,” it said. The WeChat post listed lithium, gallium, germanium and rare earths as precious mineral resources – saying they had fueled the development of strategic new industries, such as new energy, semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and aerospace. “Strategic critical minerals have become an important engine for speeding up the building of a modern industrial system and promoting high-quality economic development, which is directly related to national security,” it added. The post comes months after China ordered export restrictions on gallium and germanium, important metals used in semiconductor manufacturing, and several of their compounds, in retaliation against Western sanctions on its chip industry. Since August, exporters of these elements in China need to apply for permission from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), with information about the end users and how the materials would be used.
The Ministry of State Security (MSS) pointed out that critical minerals had become a new arena of competition among global powers, triggering a rise in resource protectionism. The scarcity of critical mineral resources and the monopoly enjoyed by a small number of countries were behind the global scramble, it said. The Ministry further criticized “some Western countries” for setting up “small circles” in pursuit of selfish interests. “They have built ‘small courtyards and high walls’ in order to gain access to critical mineral resources by any means, thus seriously impeding the process of globalization,” it said. China regards guarding national security in critical mineral resources as an important task, it added.
