China vowed on Saturday to step up a crackdown and toughen law enforcement against smuggling of strategic minerals seen as vital to national security and critical for development…The world's largest supplier of dozens of strategic minerals, China began imposing export curbs in 2023 on supplies vital to sectors ranging from chipmaking and the energy transition to defence…The commerce ministry remarks, describing smuggling and export of strategic minerals as a severe problem to be combated, came at a meeting of officials responsible for export control coordination and other government bodies…Evasive methods such as false declarations and third-country transshipment were taking on increasingly covert forms, it added, urging government bodies to prevent illegal outflows of strategic minerals and related technologies.

China's exports of two critical minerals used in weapons, telecommunications and solar cells have plunged over the past three months amid a crackdown on smuggling and transshipment that has involved China's top spy agency…Exports of antimony and germanium in June were down 88% and 95%, respectively, versus January, according to customs data published on Sunday…Both were added to an export control list in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Exports to the U.S. were then banned in December as part of retaliation for chip restrictions…The collapse in export volumes coincides with well-publicised crackdown on critical mineral export control evasion. China's spy agency said last week it had detected attempts to bypass controls via transshipment, where cargoes move through a third country before going on to their final destination.

Congo and Rwanda-backed rebels have signed a declaration of principles for a permanent ceasefire in eastern Congo, where ethnic tensions and quest for rich minerals have resulted in one of Africa’s longest conflicts with thousands killed this year…The conflict can be traced to the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when Hutu soldiers and militias killed between 500,000 and 1 million minority Tutsis as well as moderate Hutus and the Indigenous Twa… Analysts have said a lot of interests in the conflict in Congo are tied to the mostly untapped minerals in the east, estimated to be worth as much as $24 trillion by the U.S. Department of Commerce…The Trump administration has pushed to gain access to the minerals key to much of the world’s technology. It is also to counter China, a key player in the region where the U.S. presence and influence have eroded. That is already playing out with KoBold Metals, a U.S. mining company that on Friday announced it has signed an agreement with Congo for “large-scale minerals exploration program” in the east…The declaration of principles was the first direct commitment by both sides since the rebels, supported by neighboring Rwanda, seized two key cities in eastern Congo in a major advance early this year…The signing sets in motion negotiations for a final peace deal, to be signed no later than Aug. 18. It also reflects provisions of a U.S.-brokered peace deal signed between Congo and Rwanda on June 27.