The Office of the National Export Control Coordination Mechanism has deployed a special campaign to combat the smuggling and export of strategic minerals

According to the website of the Ministry of Commerce, in order to thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, on May 9, 2025, the Office of the National Export Control Coordination Mechanism organized the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of State Security, the General Administration of Customs, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the State Post Bureau, and other departments to hold an on-site meeting on the special campaign to combat the smuggling and export of strategic minerals in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, and deployed specific tasks.

The meeting pointed out that strengthening export controls on strategic mineral resources is crucial to national security and development interests. Since the implementation of export controls on strategic minerals such as gallium, germanium, antimony, tungsten, and medium-heavy rare earth by the state, some overseas entities have colluded with domestic illegal personnel, continuously innovating methods of smuggling and export in an attempt to evade crackdowns. To prevent the illegal outflow of strategic minerals, curb the momentum of smuggling, effectively safeguard national security, promote compliant trade, and ensure the stability of industrial and supply chains, combating the smuggling and export of strategic minerals has become an urgent and important task at present.

The meeting emphasized that all departments should focus on the strategic minerals sector, strengthen source control, and form a joint force to combat smuggling. Targeting typical evasion tactics such as false declarations, concealed smuggling, and "third-country" re-exports, the departments should prioritize cracking down on the smuggling and export of strategic minerals. It is essential to adhere to the rule of law thinking, improve the connection between administrative and criminal law enforcement, expedite the handling and announcement of a batch of illegal export cases in accordance with the law, thoroughly investigate illegal entities and smuggling networks behind the scenes, and resolutely strike deep and hard to form a strong deterrent against lawbreakers.

The meeting required that all departments should strengthen the allocation of law enforcement and judicial resources and capacity building to effectively improve the level of case handling and the effectiveness of crackdowns; accelerate the construction of intelligent law enforcement information systems and strengthen cross-departmental and cross-regional law enforcement collaboration; strengthen law enforcement cooperation between the mainland and the customs of Hong Kong and Macao to form a joint force, ensure the achievement of national export control objectives, and resolutely safeguard national security and development interests.