Ministry of Commerce has asked rare-earth companies based in China for personnel lists that include specialist employees’ specific expertise, education, research background and personal information.
The goal is to develop a formal catalog of Chinese nationals with rare earth expertise and keep tabs on these employees to make sure they don’t travel abroad and reveal secrets.
The lists include those in upstream roles, such as processing rare earths, and those in downstream roles, such as those using the processed minerals to make rare-earth magnets, which are used in automobiles, wind turbines, drones and jet fighters.
Some experts at Chinese companies have reportedly been asked to turn in their passports to their companies or local authorities, to ensure they don’t make any unauthorized trips. China already requires government officials and employees of state-owned companies to turn in travel documents and apply for approval to travel abroad.
For years, China has produced these magnets so cheaply that it has been all but impossible for companies elsewhere to compete. But the recent export restrictions are breathing new life into efforts to develop rare-earth industries in countries such as the US and France.
One of the main hurdles is the paucity of rare-earth production expertise outside of China. Processing rare earths involves painstaking separation of individual rare-earth elements from raw materials, in which many elements with similar chemical properties are jumbled together. Chinese scientists have developed equipment and processes that are widely considered best in class.
That is a turnaround from decades ago, when China was first developing its rare-earth industry and benefited from foreign experts who trained workers in the latest technologies.
wsj.com/world/china-to