A Chinese national flag outside the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court in Beijing, China, March 31, 2022. Mark R. Cristino, EPA-EFE/File
TOKYO — China is considering banning the export of technologies used to produce high-performing rare earth magnets, which are crucial for powering products from electric vehicles to mobile phones, a proposed revision to its export control measures showed Wednesday.
As the United States tightens its grip on semiconductor technologies, also crucial for high-tech products, China, a major producer of some rare earth minerals, is apparently trying to dominate industries where it already has a large market share and expand its economic clout in growing sectors relying on such magnets.
The Chinese government released at the end of 2022 a proposed revision to its list of technologies that are prohibited and restricted for export, with the ban possibly implemented within this year, as it advances its policy of creating a self-sufficient supply chain of crucial industries.
Among them were technologies such as refining and processing rare earth metals.
Beijing temporarily halted in 2010 its export of the vital rare earth minerals to Japan as relations worsened over a ship collision near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The islands are administered by Japan but claimed by China.
Faced with the threat of supply disruptions, Japanese manufacturers were prompted to diversify supply sources of rare earth minerals and accelerate development of technologies to reduce dependence on such elements.