An aerial drone photo taken on Aug. 19, 2025 shows a cargo ship at Qingdao Port in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province. (Xinhua/Li Ziheng)

China's commerce ministry on Sunday defended the country's export control measures on rare earths and related items as a legitimate action, while urging the United States to properly manage differences through dialogues and on the basis of mutual respect and equal-footed consultation. 

China, as a responsible major country, employs export controls on related items according to the law, in order to better defend world peace and regional stability, and to fulfill non-proliferation and other international obligations, a spokesperson for the ministry said in response to media inquiries, noting that China has taken note of the important uses of medium and heavy rare earths and related items in the military field. 

China had made a thorough assessment of the measures' possible impact on industrial and supply chains in advance and is certain that related impact is very limited, the spokesperson said, noting that before the measures were announced, China had already notified relevant countries and regions through bilateral export control dialogue mechanisms. 

"China's export controls are not export bans," said the spokesperson. "All applications of compliant export for civil use can get approval, so that relevant businesses have no need to worry." 

China stands ready to work with the rest of the world to step up export control dialogue and exchange, so as to better safeguard the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains, according to the spokesperson. 

Going forward, the Chinese government will conduct reviews in accordance with laws and regulations, grant licenses to eligible applications, as well as actively consider the applicability of facilitation measures such as general licenses and license exemptions to effectively promote legitimate trade, according to the spokesperson. 

In response to a question regarding the U.S. announcement of imposing a tariff of 100 percent on China and export control on all critical software, the spokesperson said China always takes a just and reasonable principled position and implements export control measures in a prudential and moderate manner, while the U.S. remarks reflect textbook "double standard." 

For a long time, the United States has been overstretching the concept of national security, abusing export control, taking discriminatory actions against China, and imposing unilateral long-arm jurisdiction measures on various products including semiconductor equipment and chips, said the spokesperson. 

The U.S. Commerce Control List covers over 3,000 items, whereas China's Export Control List of Dual-use Items only covers about 900, the spokesperson said, noting that the United States has long imposed the "de minimis" rule for export controls, with a lowest threshold of 0 percent. 

These measures by the U.S. side have seriously harmed the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of companies, severely disrupted the international economic and trade order, and gravely undermined the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains, said the spokesperson. 

Particularly since the China-U.S. economic and trade talks in Madrid in September, the United States, in just 20 days, has introduced a string of new restrictive measures targeting China, the spokesperson noted. 

The United States has put multiple Chinese entities on the Entity List and Special Designated National List, arbitrarily expanded the scope of control over businesses with the Affiliates Rule that affects thousands of Chinese companies, and persisted with the implementation of Section 301 measures targeting China's maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries in disregard of China's concerns and goodwill, said the spokesperson. 

The spokesperson stressed that the U.S. actions have severely harmed China's interests and undermined the atmosphere of bilateral economic and trade talks, and China is resolutely opposed to them. 

"Willful threats of high tariffs are not the right way to get along with China," the spokesperson emphasized. "China's position on the trade war is consistent: we do not want it, but we are not afraid of it." 

China urges the U.S. to promptly correct its wrong practices, adhere to the important consensuses of the phone calls between the two heads of state, protect the hard-won outcomes of consultations, continue to use the China-U.S. economic and trade consultation mechanism, and address respective concerns and properly manage differences through dialogues and on the basis of mutual respect and equal-footed consultation, so as to ensure the stable, sound and sustainable development of the China-U.S. economic and trade relationship, the spokesperson said. 

"If the United States insists on going the wrong way, China will surely take resolute measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests," the spokesperson added. 

In response to a question regarding China's countermeasures against U.S. imposition of port fees on related Chinese vessels on Oct. 14, the spokesperson said the U.S. practice severely violates the World Trade Organization rules and breaches the principle of equality and mutual benefit of the China-U.S. Maritime Transport Agreement, and is a typical act of unilateralism. 

Since the economic and trade talks in London, China has engaged in consultations and communications with the United States on the matter, provided a written reply to the groundless accusations against China in the Section 301 investigation report, and made recommendations of potential bilateral cooperation in related industries, the spokesperson said. 

However, the United States has shown a negative attitude and willfully persists in implementing those measures, the spokesperson added. 

China's countermeasures are necessary acts of passive defense and are aimed at maintaining the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese industries and enterprises, as well as the level playing-field of the international shipping and shipbuilding markets, the spokesperson stressed. 

It is hoped the U.S. will face up to its mistake, move with China in the same direction, and return to the right track of dialogue and consultation, said the spokesperson.