Amidst the crisis of rare soil elements worldwide, China has made a major allegation. China’s Ministry of Defense has accused foreign intelligence agencies of smuggling rare soil elements. This has been revealed in a report by Bloomberg. The allegation has been leveled at a time when China has signed a trade agreement with the US a few days ago. Subsequently, China agreed to rethink the issue of making rare soil exports easier.
China says that in the last few years, foreign espionage and intelligence agencies and their agents have been trying to steal rare soil elements and related items by illegally connivating the country. This has posed a serious threat to China’s national security. However, this Chinese Ministry did not name any country. Rare soil elements are very important elements in the manufacture of electric vehicles, smartphones, wind turbines and military equipment. Rare soil magnets are made from these rare soil elements, which is a major part used in motors.
The ministry further said that it thwarted one such effort of a country that was trying to illegally deposit these minerals. In this case, a contractor is accused of losing false labels on packets to hide the real source. It was written on the packets that they are not made in China and what is inside them and wrong information about their chemical structure was given. Intelligence agencies also adopted other ways to steal rare meanings. Not only this, China has appealed to the citizens to inform them immediately if they see any suspicious activity related to rare minerals.
‘Rare Earth’ is China’s political weapon
China has imposed strict sanctions on export of rare economy a few days ago, causing a crisis of rare meaning all over the world. China has control over the production and processing of more than 80 percent of the world’s rare meaning. The countries struggling with lack of rare meaning are talking to China and looking for alternative avenues. Meanwhile, China is using the rare meaning as a shield and wants to trade with countries around the world on its own terms. Last month there was a limited agreement between China and the US. China will resume the licensing process for rare meaning and in return the US will relax the ban on certain types of advanced artificial intelligence chips.
