China may have taken issue with Japan workers' processed rare-earth items

Chinese customs authorities may have taken issue with attempts by two Japanese workers of Fuji Electric Co. to ship abroad processed rare-earth items amid China's tighter export controls on such products, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.The two were detained separately in May in the northeastern port city of Dalian for allegedly violating a Chinese law regarding the smuggling of prohibited imports or exports.The sources said the employees tried to export motors or other processed items from which rare-earth magnets can be disassembled and taken out later.Processed items from …READ FULL ARTICLE