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China’s rare earth tech obsession ensnares US resident as CCP looks to maintain stranglehold
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China’s bid to strangle the world’s supply of heavy rare-earth elements was about to hit a wall. Vietnamese entrepreneur Luu Anh Tuan had lined up U.S. backing for a technology that could break Beijing’s chokehold on the critical minerals behind everything from smartphones to missile-guidance systems.
Tuan and his family had fled Vietnam for the U.S. to escape Beijing’s tightening grip over Hanoi, where the Chinese Communist Party exerts a heavy influence on domestic governance.
In July 2023, he signed a technology transfer agreement, seen by Fox News Digital, to bring the heavy rare earth separation technology he was using at his Vietnam-based company, Vietnam Rare Earth (VTRE) to VTRU Corporation, a company registered in Nevada. VTRE had also signed a series of memoranda of understanding (MOU) agreements with Western companies.
«He had a bad sense of insecurity about being in Vietnam. He was determined to transfer his technology to the US as quickly as possible,» a source familiar with the rare earth industry, granted anonymity to speak without fear of retribution, told Fox News Digital.
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Luu Anh Tuan, chairman of mining company VTRE in his Hanoi office with samples of rare earth oxides in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sept. 7, 2023. (Reuters )
At the time, the world was entirely dependent on Chinese companies to separate their heavy rare earth metals.
«China has been really working for the better part of over 20 years now on building this dominance,» Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Critical Minerals Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in an interview.
And while companies like U.S.-based MP Materials and Australia-based Lynas are in the process of developing their own separation technologies, China still controls up to 90% of the rare earths separation and refining capacity and over half of mining output.
In October 2023, Tuan, then a U.S. permanent resident and green card holder in the process of becoming a citizen, was back in his Hanoi office when Vietnamese authorities raided the building, seizing all laptops and records. Seventeen employees were arrested, according to Tuan’s American business partner, Richard Dunham, and all but one, Do Hanh Huong, Tuan’s sister-in-law and COO of VTRE, have since been released.
The arrest came shortly after President Joe Biden visited Vietnam and signed cooperation agreements on rare earth minerals.
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In December, China banned rare earth extraction and separation, in what the industry saw as another effort to maintain its monopoly on the market.
«When China put in these restrictions, it really made countries like the U.S. and Australia realize that they didn’t actually even have the technical know-how to do it themselves,» said Baskaran.
«The process itself is just very labor-intensive and very toxic,» said Josh Birenbaum, a minerals expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, adding China cornered the market through state subsidies and lax environmental concerns.
While the U.S. has one major rare earths mine, MP Materials’ Mountain Pass, until this year, the company was exporting those rare earths to China for separation. The trade war and export controls that followed prompted the U.S. to stockpile its rare earths until separation capacity was up to scale at home.
Tuan was accused of forging a value-added tax receipt while trading rare earths with Thai Duong Group, which operates a mine in the northern Vietnamese province of Yen Bai.
Xenotime ore (Getty Images )
VTRE had partnered with Australian mining companies Australian Strategic Materials and Blackstone Minerals Ltd. Tuan and Dunham had also met with officials from the state of Nevada and the Department of Energy to discuss plans to bring the separation technology to the U.S. through VTRE. Both were «enthusiastic» about the proposal, which ultimately led to the signing of the transfer agreement, according to Dunham.
The arrest also came as Vietnam prepared to auction the Dong Pao mine. VTRE, backed by Western partners, was the only qualified bidder, according to Dunham.
This year, Tuan pleaded guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. He’ll spend 16 years in prison with a fine of $10 million, but his advocates say he was «coerced.» Huong was sentenced to six years in prison.
«We believe these charges to be manipulated, charges that were founded by Vietnamese state actors who have realigned themselves with China,» said Dunham. «He was tortured to obtain a guilty plea.»
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Fox News Digital could not independently verify this claim. The State Department documents credible reports of arbitrary arrests, torture and inhumane treatment by authorities, affecting both political detainees and others in custody. Medical neglect and forced confessions are frequently reported.
Tuan’s advocates say the company he was purchasing ore from, Thai Duong, refused to provide invoices at the actual rate VTRE was paying for ore. It only provided invoices that claimed it was selling ore at a lower rate, reducing its taxable income.
According to Dunham, Thai Duong refused to issue invoices reflecting the actual sale price to VTRE, allegedly to avoid environmental, natural resource and corporate income taxes, obligations that fell on Thai Duong, not Tuan.
Tuan was faced with a choice: accept the lower-rate invoices and make up the tax discrepancies with his own money or allow his state-funded minerals project, and in turn, his business, to collapse, per Dunham.
Though Tuan was convicted on criminal charges, Dunham said the violation of accounting regulations lacks evidence of criminal intent.
«Even if he were guilty of an accounting issue, it’s not something that is criminally liable for what they’re trying to do. No place in Vietnam has there ever been an issue with this type of sentencing. It’s totally unheard of. Typically you would pay a fine and that’s it.»
«He is the only individual outside of China that has a fully integrated rare earth company that’s from mining to metallization; in other words, from digging it out of the ground to the manufacturing of magnets.»
China dominates the global rare earths market. (Reuters)
Tuan was also convicted of smuggling rare earth materials, but customs documents show clearance of 63 shipments of heavy rare earth oxide mixtures under tax code 2846, which corresponds to rare earth compounds. The court misclassified the exports under tax code 2530 (raw ore), to falsely claim they were illegal, according to Dunham.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security’s investigation concluded that customs officers who signed the 63 export declarations for VTRE verified Tuan’s compliance.
China’s crackdown since then has only accelerated. Minerals experts have been ordered to surrender their passports to prevent them from sharing any technology outside the country. Beijing has tightened controls on exports of rare earths, prompting major concerns from within the U.S. defense industry. While China allowed them to flow again during trade negotiations with the Trump administration, they remain banned for defense purposes.
According to Dunham, VTRE has developed the technology to produce heavy rare earth oxides from xenotime, monazite and ion-absorption clay at a purity of 95% through a solvent extraction system. The technology was capable of processing diverse ore types and recycling NdFeB magnets.
Requests for assistance from the U.S. government have not been fruitful, according to Tuan’s advocates.
Tuan is essentially cut off from his family and lawyers. He’s seen family members around five times since his arrest nearly two years ago.
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«We are deeply concerned about his physical and mental well-being,» the source said. «He is mentally resilient. He continues to believe the truth will eventually come to light.»
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House, State Department, Chinese Embassy and Vietnamese Embassy for comment.
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INTERNACIONAL
Where Sanders and AOC-backed progressive congressional candidate Analilia Mejia stands on key issues
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A progressive candidate backed by champions of the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is close to pulling off an upset victory with votes still being counted in a Democratic congressional primary for a blue-leaning seat in New Jersey.
Analilia Mejia, a progressive organizer, has a slight lead — nearly 900 votes out of more than 63,000 votes counted — ahead of former Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski in the battle for their party’s nomination in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District.
Mejia and Malinowski are the leaders among a field of 11 Democratic candidates in the race to fill the seat left vacant after now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill stepped down after winning the November 2025 gubernatorial election in the Garden State.
The results in the primary showdown are being closely watched by the political world as an early testing ground in the debate between progressives versus the more mainstream elements of the Democratic Party.
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Analilia Mejia, a progressive candidate backed by champions of the left, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is close to pulling off an upset victory in New Jersey. (Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
And a victory by Mejia, who worked as national political director on Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, would be the latest boost for the left against the establishment since now-New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, sent shock waves across the nation with his Democratic primary victory in June 2025.
«She stands for a progressive populist economic agenda,» progressive leader Rep. Ro Khanna of California emphasized Friday in a social media post. «She is the future!»
And Mejia, speaking to supporters on primary night, highlighted that «we have to rebuild our party, we have to rebuild what is happening in our nation. We have to reclaim our democracy. We know that our economy is rigged to suit the billionaires.»
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Here’s a closer look at where Mejia stands on some key issues.
Immigration enforcement
During her primary campaign, Mejia took aim at President Donald Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on illegal immigration and has called for scrapping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency most visible in the aggressive tactics used in the administration’s massive deportation effort.
«I say abolish ICE now,» Mejia said on the campaign trail in January. «You can’t reform it. It’s not fixable. Get it out.»
Democratic congressional candidate Analilia Mejia of New Jersey has called for the scrapping of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). (Heather Khalifa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Speaking with reporters Friday about her overperformance in the primary, Mejia gave credit to her stance on immigration in the wake of backlash against the Trump administration following the fatal shootings in Minnesota by federal agents of two U.S. citizens protesting immigration operations.
«I think the fact that I was bold and unafraid to speak the truth was incredibly important,» she told reporters. «I think voters feel that they want to have a representative that actually represents them, and they cannot watch what’s happening in Minnesota, what happened in Chicago, what happened in California, what happened in Morristown across this district.»
Supreme Court
Mejia, like many on the left, has railed against rulings by the conservative-dominated court.
«The Supreme Court has been captured by right-wing radicals who care more about doing Trump’s bidding than the rule of law,» Mejia charges on her campaign website.
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She supports «articles of impeachment against Justices Thomas and Alito» for what she says is «their corruption and conflicts of interest.»
Mejia also backs «term limits for newly appointed Supreme Court justices, a binding code of ethics with real enforcement for all federal judges.»
Democratic congressional candidate Analilia Mejia of New Jersey supports term-limits for newly appointed justices on the Supreme Court. (Valerie Plesch/picture alliance via Getty Images)
And Mejia says she would support «expanding the courts if necessary to restore balance.»
Student loan debt
On her campaign website, Mejia states, «We’re going to cancel all student loan debt.»
And she pledges that she’ll «fight to make college tuition free at community colleges and trade schools for everyone.»
Taxes and minimum wage
As part of her «economy for everyone agenda,» Mejia argues, «If you work 40 hours a week, you should make at least $40,000 a year, and you shouldn’t pay a dime in federal taxes on that first $40,000.»
And she highlights that she helped lead the fight in New Jersey to «win the $15 minimum wage.»
If she makes it to Congress, Mejia says, «with the cost of living rising every day, it’s time to raise the minimum wage at the national level to $25/hour.»
Israel
Malinowski, an assistant secretary of state in former President Barack Obama’s administration who later represented a neighboring congressional district in northern New Jersey from 2018 to 2022 before losing re-election, was considered the front-runner in the race heading into primary day.
But Malinowski was the target of a slew of attack ads put out by a group affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which opposed Malinowski because he said he supports conditions on aid to Israel.
Tom Malinowski was considered the front-runner in the race heading into primary day. (Michael Karas / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The AIPAC-aligned super PAC United Democracy Project dished out more than $2.3 million to take aim at Malinowski, even though AIPAC had previously supported Malinowski in his past congressional elections.
But the strategy may backfire, because Mejia is much tougher on Israel than Malinowski.
Mejia was the only candidate in the race who raised her hand at a forum in January when asked if they agreed with human rights groups who charge Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in its war with Hamas in Gaza.
Mejia was boosted by the support on the left. Sanders headlined a virtual rally for her on the eve of the primary.
And besides Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, she also was endorsed by a large list of other progressive leaders, including Khanna, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. Pramilla Jayapal of Washington State, the former chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
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The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) a leading group on the left, said in a statement that «Analilia Mejia’s momentous showing proves that voters, when given a choice, want Democrats with an inspiring vision who will boldly challenge powerful interests on behalf of working families.»
PCCC co-founder Adam Green, a New Jersey native who knocked doors for Mejia and spoke at a rally with Mejia and Sanders on primary eve, added that primary voters «made clear they want Democrats who will shake up a broken political and economic system – not just be anti-Trump.»
While Mejia was the clear choice of the left flank of the party’s base, the rest of the field appeared to divide the more moderate and center-left vote.
The primary winner will face off with Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, the only Republican to file for the special election, which will be held April 16.
Hathaway will be considered the underdog in the race, in the suburban district in northern New Jersey.
Sherrill won re-election in the district in 2024 by 15 points, the same margin by which she carried the district in November’s gubernatorial showdown.
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But then-Vice President Kamala Harris won the district by just eight points in the 2024 presidential election, giving the GOP some hopes of possibly flipping the seat.
The special election comes as Republicans cling to a razor-thin 218–214 majority in the House of Representatives.
democratic party,democrats elections,elections,bernie sanders,alexandria ocasio cortez,zohran mamdani,new jersey
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María Corina Machado said Monday that a Venezuelan opposition leader was seized in Caracas shortly after being released from jail.
Machado wrote in a post on X that Juan Pablo Guanipa, a key ally, was kidnapped by heavily armed men in civilian clothing in the Los Chorros area of the capital.
«We demand his immediate release,» she said.
Alfredo Romero, the president of the Venezuelan human rights group Foro Penal, said 35 political prisoners were released on Sunday, including Guanipa, who was initially arrested in May.
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Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and Juan Pablo Guanipa participate in an anti-government protest on Jan. 9, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Alfredo Lasry R/Getty Images)
Reuters reported that Venezuelan authorities were seeking court approval to place Guanipa under house arrest.
The country’s Public Ministry alleged that he violated the terms of his release but provided no additional details and did not say whether he had been re-arrested.
Guanipa’s Primero Justicia party said on X that he was forced into a silver Toyota Corolla during the incident.
Juan Pablo Guanipa, opposition leader and recently released from prison, visits relatives of political prisoners near the El Helicoide detention center in Caracas on Feb. 8, 2026. (Jesus Vargas/picture alliance via Getty Images)
«We hold Delcy Rodríguez, Jorge Rodríguez, and Diosdado Cabello responsible for any harm to Juan Pablo’s life,» the party wrote. «We call on the international community for the immediate release of Juan Pablo Guanipa and for an immediate and unconditional end to the persecution of the opposition.»
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Rodríguez has been serving as the interim president of Venezuela since the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores earlier this year.
Venezuela’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez speaks during the presentation of the 2025 budget bill at the National Assembly in Caracas on Dec. 3, 2024. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)
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In late January, President Donald Trump said Venezuela was releasing political prisoners at a «rapid rate,» praising the move as a «powerful humanitarian gesture» by the country’s leadership.
An estimated 687 political prisoners remain in custody in Venezuela as of Feb. 2, according to Foro Penal.
venezuelan political crisis,nicolas maduro,world
INTERNACIONAL
Crisis energética en Cuba: se quedará sin combustible para aviones esta medianoche y se suma un apagón gigante
El Gobierno de Cuba les confirmó este lunes a las aerolíneas que operan en la isla que se suspenderá el suministro de combustible. Y ya le puso fecha a la sequía de JetFuel: será a partir de esta misma medianoche, en medio de la crisis energética que atraviesan por las presiones políticas y el bloqueo económico impulsados por Estados Unidos.
Además, desde La Habana indicaron que habrá «prolongados apagones» durante toda la jornada, con cortes que llegarán a dejar simultáneamente sin corriente a un 61,5 % de la isla en el momento de mayor demanda energética, según datos de la estatal Unión Eléctrica (UNE).
Cuba atraviesa una profunda crisis energética desde mediados de 2024, pero el asedio petrolero agravado por el Gobierno de Donald Trump está llevando a cifras récord los apagones, paralizando por completo la economía y disparando el malestar social.
«La aviación civil cubana ha notificado a todas las compañías que ya no habría suministro de JetFuel, el combustible de aviación, a partir del martes 10 de febrero a las 00 (hora local)», indicó a la agencia AFP, bajo condición de anonimato, un ejecutivo de una aerolínea europea.
En principio, la medida tiene vigencia por un mes. Obligará a las aerolíneas que operan vuelos de largo recorrido a efectuar una «escala técnica» al regreso para asegurar su abastecimiento de JetFuel, refirió el ejecutivo. Sin embargo, los vuelos regionales deberían poder continuar sus conexiones con normalidad, precisó la fuente.
La compañía Air France, por ejemplo, ya adelantó que mantendrá su ruta, con una escala técnica prevista en otro país del Caribe.
Con este panorama, Rusia acusó este lunes a Estados Unidos de asfixiar a la isla. «La situación en Cuba es realmente crítica», declaró el portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov, y ya avisó que trabajan en alternativas para evacuar a los turistas rusos que se queden varados por la cancelación de vuelos.
«Las medidas asfixiantes impuestas por Estados Unidos están causando muchas dificultades al país. Estamos estudiando posibles soluciones con nuestros amigos cubanos, al menos para proporcionar la asistencia que podamos», añadió.
En tanto, el canciller cubano, Bruno Rodríguez, denunció una «cruel agresión» que busca «doblegar la voluntad política de los cubanos».
«El escenario es duro y reclamará gran sacrificio. Nuestra disposición al diálogo es clara y conocida. Se ha reiterado directa y públicamente», agregó.
México envió este domingo dos buques cargados con 814 toneladas de ayuda humanitaria a Cuba y la presidenta Claudia Scheinbaum se encuentra negociando una eventual entrega de petróleo a la isla sin ser sancionados por Estados Unidos.
Tras haber cortado los envíos desde Venezuela, el presidente Donald Trump firmó la semana pasada un decreto que indica que Estados Unidos podría imponer aranceles a los países que vendan petróleo a La Habana.
El 31 de enero se registró el máximo histórico desde que Cuba empezó en 2022 a difundir regularmente estadísticas energéticas, con un apagón que llegó a dejar sin corriente de forma simultánea a un 63 % del país.
El Gobierno cubano anunció la semana pasada un durísimo paquete de medidas de emergencia para tratar de subsistir sin petróleo del exterior, cuando la isla apenas produce un tercio de sus necesidades energéticas.
En ese sentido, La Habana anunció la semana laboral de cuatro días y teletrabajo en las administraciones y empresas estatales, así como restricciones en la venta de combustible, para hacer frente a la crisis energética.
También habrá una reducción de los servicios de autobuses y trenes entre provincias, así como el cierre de determinados establecimientos turísticos.
Las jornadas de clases serán más cortas y las universidades funcionarán en modalidad semipresencial. Estas medidas deben permitir ahorrar combustible para favorecer «la producción de alimentos y la producción de electricidad» y posibilitar «la salvaguarda de las actividades fundamentales que generan divisas», declaró el vice primer ministro, Oscar Pérez-Oliva Fraga, en la televisión estatal.
Where Sanders and AOC-backed progressive congressional candidate Analilia Mejia stands on key issues
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