Beijing Moves to Tighten Export Curbs on Gallium, Lithium and Battery Technology

The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Science and Technology issued the notice jointly. It would add one item to the catalogue, revise one and remove three, the ministry said. Feedback runs until Feb 1. China Daily reported the proposal on 4 January 2025.

The additions hit materials that sit underneath three industries at once: semiconductors, electric vehicles and consumer electronics. Beijing already restricts exports of gallium and germanium products. The new proposal would extend the net to extraction technologies, not just the metals themselves. Battery cathode material preparation technology would also face tighter controls.

What the catalogue actually does

The catalogue is the legal instrument that sorts technologies into "prohibited" and "restricted" categories. It is not a blanket ban. Foreign firms can still obtain controlled technologies if they secure an export permission from the Chinese government, according to Cui Fan, a professor of international trade at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, who was quoted by China Daily. Cui said the revision helps domestic companies expand abroad "in a legal and compliant manner."

China's previous update, issued in late 2023, cut the number of controlled items from 164 to 134, the Ministry of Commerce said at the time. So the direction of travel has not been one-way. Ding Rijia, an industrial economy professor at the China University of Mining and Technology, told China Daily the revision balances protection of critical technologies and mineral resources against encouraging global innovation and exchange.

That framing is contested outside China. A CSIS analysis of technology transfer policy argues that China's "nonmarket policies and predatory commercial practices distort the global economy and create strategic risk to Western nations." It adds that export controls alone are insufficient unless embedded in a broader diplomatic programme. The same paper says the West cannot decouple from China and China cannot decouple from the West, because the global economy is too interconnected for Cold War-style bifurcation.

Why the timing matters

The consultation landed as China was already the dominant supplier of several inputs the proposal touches. RNZ republished an ABC News analysis by chief business correspondent Ian Verrender. China accounts for 90 percent of world battery production and dominates minerals crucial to batteries including lithium, cobalt, manganese and graphite, according to that analysis. It also "churns out almost all the world's anode and cathode production."

The article describes how Beijing set its electric vehicle strategy in motion as far back as 2000, poured cash and incentives into the project in 2009, and encouraged battery firms such as BYD to move into automobiles. The stated aims were to cut reliance on imported oil and to reduce pollution.

On the chip side, a Silicon Analysts assessment says China has made credible gains in etch, deposition and CMP equipment, with domestic suppliers such as NAURA and AMEC taking measurable share, while photolithography remains the unresolved bottleneck. ASML's EUV systems stay subject to Dutch export restrictions, and no Chinese supplier has demonstrated a production-capable EUV platform, the analysis states.

"The revision of the catalog is part of an effort to balance the protection of critical technologies and mineral resources, while still encouraging innovation and technological exchange on a global scale," Ding Rijia said, according to China Daily.

The CSIS paper recommends denying China the benefits of illicit activity rather than trying to deny it access to technology, and extending the "trustworthy suppliers" logic developed during the 5G debate to other technologies. It also calls for measurable reductions in what it calls illicit or predatory behaviour so that countries can assess progress.

The consultation closes on 1 February 2025. Equipment makers, battery firms and their customers in Europe, Japan, South Korea and the United States will read the final catalogue closely to see whether the gallium, lithium and cathode items survive, and in what form.