Just hours after the United States and Pakistan announced the joint development of rare-earth resources, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Transportation of China announced relevant countermeasures: one is to ban China's rare-earth key technological talents from leaving the country; and the second is to ban the export of related equipment.
The partnership began in September 2025.The Pakistani Border Engineering Organization signed an agreement with U.S. Strategic Metal Company covering the entire process of exploration, processing and refinery construction.
Pakistan is eager to revitalize its US $6 trillion mineral reserves, especially rare earth resources such as neodymium and praseodymium in Balochistan, which can alleviate the financial pressure brought by the US $130 billion foreign debt.
The United States hopes to get rid of dependence. After all, 87% of its 153 main battle equipment require rare earths processed by China, and a single F-35 fighter jet consumes 420 kilograms of related materials.
Shortly after signing the contract, Pakistan sent the first batch of rare earth samples to the United States for testing, and the cooperation advanced far faster than expected.
We all know that the core of the rare-earth industry is not in reserves, but in technology.
Smelting and separation facilities have never been established in Pakistan, and even the most basic extraction process is blank.
Although MP Materials has invested $1 billion in rebuilding the supply chain in the U.S., it has always failed to overcome rare-earth separation technology and still relies on external processing capabilities.
The two sides are looking forward to achieving technology transfer through cooperation, plan to land a complete metallurgy facility in Pakistan in three phases, and even plan to build the port of Pasni and the accompanying railway, specifically for the transport of minerals.
China's control measures precisely target this core shortcoming.
The new regulation not only lists 25 key categories of equipment such as centrifugal extraction equipment, vacuum combustion furnace, but also covers core raw materials such as P507 extractors, enabling the entire chain coverage from mining to recycling.
What is more critical is the restriction on the flow of talents. Domestic technicians who master the core process of rare earth separation and purification must undergo strict approval before leaving the country, completely cutting off the possibility of Pakistan obtaining technical support.
These measures are not temporary responses, but a continuation of the full-chain supervision ideas of the "Rare Earth Management Regulations", which have already formed a mature management and control system through years of practice.
The effect of control quickly appeared.
The test of Pakistani rare earth samples by Strategic Metals Company of the United States shows that its ore contains high impurity content and requires special processes to extract high-purity products, which can only be stably realized in China in the world.
The experience of Australia Linus has proved that even if it invests heavily in building a factory, it still cannot be put into production without core technology, and ultimately can only rely on China's refining capabilities.
Pakistan originally expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and promote industrial upgrading through cooperation, but now it is caught in the dilemma of "resources but no technology". Samples that have arrived in the United States can only be stored in warehouses for a long time and cannot enter the processing link.
The pattern of the global rare earth industry has long been clear.
China controls 90% of rare earth refining capacity and is the only source of heavy rare earths separation. This advantage stems from decades of technical accumulation and process iteration.
The United States had previously sought cooperation with Mongolia and Myanmar to break its dependence, but all failed due to limited reserves or political turmoil. This cooperation with Pakistan also faces technical bottlenecks.
Even if the U.S. wants to breakthrough on its own, relevant technology research and development will take more than a decade and huge funds will be invested, and it will be difficult to form effective production capacity in the short term.
China’s regulatory measures have always followed international rules and are aimed at safeguarding industrial security and sustainable development.
With regard to domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, the new rules make it clear that normal trade and cooperation can still be carried out as long as the approval procedures are fulfilled according to law.
This idea of balancing security and openness not only maintains the core of technology, but also reserves space for the stability of the global industrial chain.
The obstruction of the US-Pakistan agreement once again confirms that the core of competition in the rare earth industry is the right to speak in technology.
Through years of deep cultivation, China has mastered the core competencies, so that the control measures have the confidence of precise regulation. The reconstruction of the global rare earth supply chain in the future will ultimately be inseparable from the support of technical strength, and China's accumulation in this field is providing a stable guarantee for the healthy development of the industry.
The partnership began in September 2025.The Pakistani Border Engineering Organization signed an agreement with U.S. Strategic Metal Company covering the entire process of exploration, processing and refinery construction.
Pakistan is eager to revitalize its US $6 trillion mineral reserves, especially rare earth resources such as neodymium and praseodymium in Balochistan, which can alleviate the financial pressure brought by the US $130 billion foreign debt.
The United States hopes to get rid of dependence. After all, 87% of its 153 main battle equipment require rare earths processed by China, and a single F-35 fighter jet consumes 420 kilograms of related materials.
Shortly after signing the contract, Pakistan sent the first batch of rare earth samples to the United States for testing, and the cooperation advanced far faster than expected.
We all know that the core of the rare-earth industry is not in reserves, but in technology.
Smelting and separation facilities have never been established in Pakistan, and even the most basic extraction process is blank.
Although MP Materials has invested $1 billion in rebuilding the supply chain in the U.S., it has always failed to overcome rare-earth separation technology and still relies on external processing capabilities.
The two sides are looking forward to achieving technology transfer through cooperation, plan to land a complete metallurgy facility in Pakistan in three phases, and even plan to build the port of Pasni and the accompanying railway, specifically for the transport of minerals.
China's control measures precisely target this core shortcoming.
The new regulation not only lists 25 key categories of equipment such as centrifugal extraction equipment, vacuum combustion furnace, but also covers core raw materials such as P507 extractors, enabling the entire chain coverage from mining to recycling.
What is more critical is the restriction on the flow of talents. Domestic technicians who master the core process of rare earth separation and purification must undergo strict approval before leaving the country, completely cutting off the possibility of Pakistan obtaining technical support.
These measures are not temporary responses, but a continuation of the full-chain supervision ideas of the "Rare Earth Management Regulations", which have already formed a mature management and control system through years of practice.
The effect of control quickly appeared.
The test of Pakistani rare earth samples by Strategic Metals Company of the United States shows that its ore contains high impurity content and requires special processes to extract high-purity products, which can only be stably realized in China in the world.
The experience of Australia Linus has proved that even if it invests heavily in building a factory, it still cannot be put into production without core technology, and ultimately can only rely on China's refining capabilities.
Pakistan originally expected to create tens of thousands of jobs and promote industrial upgrading through cooperation, but now it is caught in the dilemma of "resources but no technology". Samples that have arrived in the United States can only be stored in warehouses for a long time and cannot enter the processing link.
The pattern of the global rare earth industry has long been clear.
China controls 90% of rare earth refining capacity and is the only source of heavy rare earths separation. This advantage stems from decades of technical accumulation and process iteration.
The United States had previously sought cooperation with Mongolia and Myanmar to break its dependence, but all failed due to limited reserves or political turmoil. This cooperation with Pakistan also faces technical bottlenecks.
Even if the U.S. wants to breakthrough on its own, relevant technology research and development will take more than a decade and huge funds will be invested, and it will be difficult to form effective production capacity in the short term.
China’s regulatory measures have always followed international rules and are aimed at safeguarding industrial security and sustainable development.
With regard to domestic and foreign-funded enterprises, the new rules make it clear that normal trade and cooperation can still be carried out as long as the approval procedures are fulfilled according to law.
This idea of balancing security and openness not only maintains the core of technology, but also reserves space for the stability of the global industrial chain.
The obstruction of the US-Pakistan agreement once again confirms that the core of competition in the rare earth industry is the right to speak in technology.
Through years of deep cultivation, China has mastered the core competencies, so that the control measures have the confidence of precise regulation. The reconstruction of the global rare earth supply chain in the future will ultimately be inseparable from the support of technical strength, and China's accumulation in this field is providing a stable guarantee for the healthy development of the industry.