Since October, overseas media have suddenly intensively hyped that "Pakistan steals Chinese rare earth technology to the United States", not only claiming that Pakistan has signed a memorandum of understanding of $500 million with American strategic metals company, and plans to export rare earth and transfer technology in three stages, but also distorting the new rare earth export control regulations introduced by China on October 9th into the conspiracy theory of "China countering Pakistan" and "betrayal of hardcore brothers". But this farce was quickly exposed by the facts. At the regular press conference of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on October 13th, spokesman Lin Jian clearly refuted: "The relevant reports either don't know the truth, or catch the wind, or even sow discord, which is unfounded."
As all-weather strategic partners, China and Pakistan have a lasting "iron friendship", and the two countries have always maintained a high degree of strategic mutual trust on issues of major interests. Pakistan has taken the initiative to clarify that the so-called "ore donated to the United States" is only raw gemstone ore purchased by staff, not a rare earth product, nor does it involve Chinese technology or equipment, and Pakistan's exchanges with the United States will never harm China's interests and China-Pakistan cooperation. Lin Jian also emphasized that China's rare earth control has nothing to do with Pakistan and is a legitimate measure to improve the export control system in accordance with the law.
China's rare-earth control new rules, in the Ministry of Commerce 2025 No. 61 announcement has a clear definition: adding 5 rare-earth elements to the control list, the semiconductor users to implement additional review, from December 1, rare-earth production, processing, separation equipment and related raw materials export license application requirement, foreign military affiliated companies can basically not obtain a permit.
From the perspective of the global rare earth pattern, although China only accounts for 30%-40% of the world's rare earth reserves, it controls all medium and heavy rare earth separation and refining capacity in the world. Almost all cutting-edge technologies in the United States, whether military equipment, AI chips or automobile manufacturing, are inseparable from high-purity rare earth elements. In recent years, although the United States, Europe and Japan have vigorously promoted the "de-Chinaization" of the supply chain, the progress has been slow: the only "Yamaguchi Mine" in California that has resumed mining in the United States still needs to transport raw materials to China for processing; Restricted by environmental regulations, technical barriers and high costs, it is difficult to break through the local refining capacity in the West. The Pentagon report has acknowledged that the United States is at least 15 years behind China in the rare earth supply chain.
China introduced this control, in essence, is a response to the recent U.S. "push-table" pressure.Since late September, the U.S. in the field of science and technology, add restrictions on China, the U.S. House of Representatives "Special Committee on China" on October 7 released a report, advocating to extend the control of Chinese semiconductors from advanced processes below 14 nanometers to all mature processes, even prohibiting the export of any chip manufacturing equipment (including DUV optical engraving machines), and through the "transparency rules" to include thousands of Chinese enterprises in the entity list, seriously undermining the results of Madrid economic and trade talks.
Faced with the United States 'ambition to "completely cut off supplies to China's semiconductor industry", China has made a precise attack on rare earth control: for the first time, it has included rare earth materials, equipment and technologies relied on by logic chips below 14 nanometers and memory chips above 256 layers into "case-by-case approval", and introduced "extraterritorial effects"-the re-export of overseas products containing more than 0.1% of China's rare earth components requires China's permission. This measure reproduces the logic of the United States '"long-arm jurisdiction" and directly hits the lifeblood of the U.S. military, AI, and automotive chip supply chains.
The American response was dramatic. On October 11, Trump suddenly announced that he would impose a 100% tariff on China starting from November 1, and U.S. stocks evaporated by US$1.65 trillion that day. But only a few hours later, his team collectively "put out the fire": Trade Representative Greer said that he had "no intention of fighting a trade war" and Vice President Vance emphasized the next day that he was "willing to negotiate rationally"; on October 13, Trump even changed his words on social media, saying that "the United States wants to help China." The global financial market immediately rebounded, and the "TACO" deal that "Trump always backs down" came true again.
Behind this sharp turn is the reality that the United States has to admit: China has irreplaceable bargaining chips in the field of rare earths. The United States cannot rebuild the rare earth refining system in the short term, and Musk also admitted that "robot production is affected by the shortage of rare earths." If a full-scale trade war is really launched, the pressure of rising prices and high inflation in the United States will intensify, and Trump will not dare to take this risk in the face of the mid-term elections next year. Its rapid softening after the threat exposed the nature of American strategic bluff.
Foreign media hype "Pakistan hostile", but the public opinion smoke bomb under U.S. anxiety, intent to separate between China and Pakistan relations, transfer domestic pressure. China clarified in time, bothined China and Pakistan's strategy of mutual trust, but also revealed the usual tricks of the West "provoking" between. Now the game has entered a new phase, China with the rare ground to counter the U.S. chip blockade, passing a clear signal: the rules are equal, the means are symmetrical, the bottom line is clear, China is no longer passively beaten, but proactively set up.