China's Ministry of State Security says it is cracking down on alleged smuggling of rare earths materials that it says threaten national security.

China arrests suspects involved in smuggling strategic minerals, and authorities warn of ‘increasingly covert’ tactics to evade detection.

China's exports of rare earth magnets to the United States in June soared to more than seven times their May level, marking a sharp recovery in the flow of critical minerals used in electric vehicles and wind turbines after a Sino-U.