Many believe China only sanctions export of rare earth and tungsten to Japan
In reality, China maintains an export control list of approximately 1,100 dual-use items and technologies across various categories, including nuclear, biological, chemical, aerospace, and rare earth materials. The list is 168 pages long
Under MOFCOM Announcement No. 1, China prohibits the export of “ALL” dual-use items originating from China to Japan if the intended end-use or end-user enhances Japan's military capabilities. Additionally, China implemented targeted entity bans, such as specifically sanctioning 20 Japanese companies (e.g., Mitsubishi Shipbuilding) by completely restricting their access to Chinese dual-use items
Some analysts predicted by June, after Japanese companies used up their stockpile of these imports, the impact to Japanese industrial production will emerge
After news of Bessent asking China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng to resume rare earth export to Japan, and the news of production lines shutdown due to lack of Tungsten from China, we have news this week that 2 Japanese were detained by China for smuggling rare earth
The impact is beginning to emerge, just keep watching
Two Japanese firms just shut down their production line, cutting 25% of the world’s tungsten hexafluoride (WF₆) capacity. This is what Chinese critical minerals dominance looks like in action — slowly choking allies’ high-tech economies
Kanto Denka Kogyo (sometimes referenced
