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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.
CHINA CONTROLS OVER 80% OF BATTERY MATERIALS CRUCIAL TO US DEFENSE EQUIPMENT, UNSETTLING REPORT REVEALS
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
EEUU ordenó evacuar a su personal diplomático de Arabia Saudita mientras el régimen de Irán amplía sus represalias en el Golfo
REUTERS/Stringer
El gobierno de Estados Unidos ordenó el martes la salida de Arabia Saudita del personal diplomático no esencial y sus familias, en respuesta a la amenaza creciente que representa la campaña de represalias iraní en el Golfo Pérsico. La decisión del Departamento de Estado llegó horas después de que dos drones atacaran la embajada estadounidense en Riad, causaran un incendio limitado y obligaran al personal a refugiarse en el interior del complejo. No se registraron víctimas, según confirmó el Ministerio de Defensa saudí, pero la agresión contra suelo diplomático marcó una nueva escalada en el conflicto abierto el 28 de febrero con los bombardeos conjuntos de Washington e Israel sobre Irán.
La orden de evacuación no se limitó a Arabia Saudita. El Departamento de Estado extendió la medida a Kuwait, Baréin, Irak, Catar, Jordania y los Emiratos Árabes Unidos, en un movimiento que refleja la magnitud de la amenaza percibida en toda la región. La embajada en Kuwait, que también sufrió un ataque, cerró de forma indefinida. Paralelamente, la secretaria adjunta de Estado para Asuntos Consulares, Mora Namdar, instó a los ciudadanos estadounidenses a abandonar de inmediato catorce países, entre ellos Arabia Saudita, Israel, Líbano, Siria y Yemen, por “graves riesgos para su seguridad”.
La sede diplomática en Riad emitió alertas de refugio para los estadounidenses presentes en Riad, Yeda y Dammam, y restringió los desplazamientos no esenciales a instalaciones militares en la zona. El Ministerio de Defensa saudí confirmó que sus defensas aéreas interceptaron cuatro drones dirigidos al Barrio Diplomático de la capital, y en una segunda oleada derribaron ocho proyectiles adicionales cerca de Riad y Al-Kharj, según informó el portavoz militar mayor general Turki al-Malki.
Arabia Saudita condenó los ataques en los términos más firmes. El Ministerio de Exteriores calificó las agresiones de “descaradas y cobardes” y recordó que el Reino había comunicado a Teherán que no toleraría el uso de su territorio ni de su espacio aéreo como corredor para atacar Irán. La advertencia no disuadió a la República Islámica, que extendió su campaña a objetivos energéticos: Saudi Aramco tuvo que detener operaciones en su refinería de Ras Tanura tras el incendio causado por los restos de un proyectil iraní en uno de los mayores complejos de procesamiento de crudo del mundo.
Las evacuaciones diplomáticas se producen en el cuarto día de un conflicto que ya causó más de 1.000 muertos en Irán, según la Media Luna Roja iraní, además de once en Israel, 52 en Líbano y seis militares estadounidenses confirmados por el Mando Central de EEUU. El OIEA informó que el sitio de enriquecimiento de Natanz sufrió “daños recientes”, aunque descartó consecuencias radiológicas. El general de brigada iraní Ebrahim Jabbari, asesor de la Guardia Revolucionaria, declaró cerrado el estrecho de Ormuz y advirtió que cualquier buque que lo cruzara “sería incendiado”, lo que disparó los precios del crudo en los mercados internacionales.
El presidente Donald Trump prometió responder “pronto” al ataque contra la embajada y a la muerte de soldados estadounidenses, y reconoció que la operación militar podría prolongarse más allá de las cuatro o cinco semanas previstas. La muerte del líder supremo Alí Khamenei en un ataque selectivo el fin de semana dejó la cadena de mando iraní en una incertidumbre que, lejos de frenar las represalias, parece alimentarlas, sin que ninguna de las partes haya señalado hasta ahora una vía de salida negociada.
(Con información de AFP)
Middle East
Private security group helps people evacuate the Middle East
A global security firm, Global Guardian, has evacuated more than 4,000 people from the Middle East since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran last weekend. FOX takes a look at how Global Guardian is executing evacuations out of the Middle East.
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MCLEAN, Va. – As Americans are stranded in the Middle East amid the U.S. and Israel war with Iran, government and private agencies are working around the clock to conduct evacuations.
In addition to the U.S. Department of State’s 24/7 task force aimed at evacuating Americans, private security firm Global Guardian is also working around the clock to complete the same mission.
As of Friday, Global Guardian has evacuated more than 4,000 people from the Middle East, according to its CEO and President, Dale Robert Buckner.
While operations and logistics teams sit in an office building in northern Virginia, the firm has personnel in more than 140 countries, allowing Global Guardian access to nearly every corner of the world for emergency response or evacuations.
Global Guardian receiving calls for evacuations in the Middle East.
«We provide medical evac services, we provide kidnap, ransom, extortion negotiation payment if someone is kidnapped or extorted,» Buckner said. «We’re providing about 300 missions a month of executive protection travel, in about 84 countries a month.»
The private security firm also conducts camera surveillance of residences and commercial property and has cyber analysts monitoring mobile devices.
After the U.S. and Israel struck Iran in a joint attack last weekend, the firm has been coordinating multiple emergency response evacuations — but this isn’t the first time it has assisted Americans out of a crisis zone.
«That means getting people out of Puerto Vallarta a week ago, and Jalisco, Mexico. That means getting people out of Asheville, North Carolina when it got wiped out by a hurricane,» Buckner said.
STATE DEPARTMENT GIVES UPDATES ON AMERICANS FLEEING MIDDLE EAST
Logistically, getting tourists out of a war zone and back to safety is a process, but the firm works fast, completing their first border crossing within the first six hours of the missile strikes.
Immediately, the firm received a call from a pair of students studying abroad, Deputy Vice President of Operations Colin O’Brien told Fox News. He said they were trying to leave Dubai.
«Within about four and a half hours from the phone call, we had our teams in motion to go pick these people up and it was two college-aged women,» said O’Brien.
Global Guardian security firm is working around the clock to execute emergency evacuations in the Middle East.
«Put them in the car, we were then able to move from the Omani border and by eight hours we were at the border. Work through the border checkpoint to a hotel in Muscat, where we could stop and give them a short rest while we arrange their transportation home,» he says.
The group said it remains active year-round to ensure evacuation plans are in place before disasters strike.
«There’s a narrative of, here’s the pickup point, here’s the key crossing site,» Buckner said. «This is what you’re gonna need from a paperwork standpoint, legally. And then we’re gonna put you in a hotel or straight onto a commercial flight. Most likely, at this point in the war, we’re gonna put you on a private charter.»
WHAT’S NEXT IN OPERATION EPIC FURY
Buckner said most of these missions happening in the region are ground movement, done by locals. He says in the 140 countries the firm is in, they have ground teams working year-round. Consistently training year-round.
«We’re communicating, we’re coordinating, we’re executing. Executive protection agents, armed agents, armed vehicles, large-scale event support with medical and security personnel,» he said, describing the firm’s standard operating capabilities.
«We’re coordinating whether the firm needs drivers. From Dubai to Oman, Israel to either Oman, Jordan or Egypt. Out of Bahrain into Saudi Arabia,» Buckner said.
While the firm is coordinating with the State Department, it said it has not yet conducted a flight mission on behalf of the department.
Security firm analysts create plans to evacuate Americans.
Global Guardian offers these services through what it calls a «Duty of Care Membership,» which Buckner said costs $15,000 per year for a family of five.
«You are going to sign a contract — whether it’s a family, a family office or typically a large corporate logo. Then we become, at your beck and call,» Buckner said, describing the emergency response services included in the agreement.
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For Americans currently stuck in the Middle East, Buckner said the cost of evacuation using ground and air resources varies depending on the situation and location.
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INTERNACIONAL
La guerra contra Irán: el petróleo supera los 100 dólares y Donald Trump busca minimizar el aumento
Este domingo, los precios del petróleo superaron los tres dígitos por primera vez desde 2022, una clara señal de cómo la guerra con Irán está limitando los suministros globales y elevando los costos para los consumidores en medio de temores de una prolongación del conflicto.
El precio por encima de los 100 dólares por barril, de gran importancia psicológica, aumentará el sufrimiento de los consumidores, muchos de los cuales no apoyan la guerra y no fueron advertidos de su inminente llegada. Israel acaba de reconocer oficialmente que la guerra puede “durar mucho”.
El banco Goldman Sachs, a su vez, calcula que los valores llegarían fácilmente a los 150 dólares a finales de mes.
Constituye un grave revés para el presidente Donald Trump quien había buscado minimizar las subas del precio del combustible que ya se registran en Estados Unidos como “un pequeño fallo. Sabía exactamente lo que iba a pasar”, acaba de señalar a ABC News. Pero se trata de un año electoral y estas subas son fuertemente inflacionarias, además del rechazo entre la población a la guerra.
Signo de la preocupación, el presidente desvió la atención en la entrevista hacia los logros militares y aseguró que las fuerzas estadounidenses han destruido la totalidad de la Armada iraní. “Lo bueno es que hundimos 44 de sus barcos, que es toda su flota”, recalcó, datos no confirmados por la parte iraní que efectivamente ha perdido importantes buques de su armada.
El crudo Brent, de referencia mundial, cotizaba el domingo por la noche a US$ 101,81 y en la madrugada del lunes a US$ 114,13, contra poco más de US$ 82 antes del conflicto. Mientras, el WTI, la principal métrica estadounidense, se situaba en US$ 101,56 el domingo y US$ 112,26 este lunes, contra 77 dólares previo a la guerra.
Los conductores estadounidenses ya están sintiendo los efectos de los precios del crudo, que han subido más de 30 por ciento desde que comenzaron los ataques militares contra Irán, afirma el sitio Axios. Eso es 3,45 dólares por galón (3,7 litros).
Los analistas de Goldam Sachs calculan el alza este mes a un notal 150 dólares el barril, si no se soluciona la grave interrupción del flujo de crudo a través del estratégico estrecho de Ormuz que controla Irán.
Las exportaciones de petróleo a través de la vital ruta comercial que conecta a los mayores productores de petróleo del mundo con los compradores del mercado global han caído más de lo que el banco de inversión estadounidense había previsto inicialmente tras el ataque estadounidense-israelí contra Irán hace poco más de una semana.
Goldman Sachs había previsto que el flujo de crudo a través del estrecho se reduciría al 15% de los niveles normales, pero el bloqueo efectivo de Irán a los petroleros que pasan por la vía fluvial ha significado que solo 10% de los cargamentos de crudo que habitualmente transitan por la ruta comercial han podido pasar.
Un influyente analista petrolero, advirtió que su análisis de los flujos comerciales de la semana pasada sugería que el impacto fue 17 veces mayor que el pico de abril de 2022 que sufrió la producción rusa tras la invasión de Ucrania por parte del Kremlin, que elevó el precio del petróleo a 110 dólares por barril.
“Con base en estos nuevos datos, los acontecimientos y la magnitud del shock, ahora creemos que los precios del petróleo probablemente superarán los 100 dólares la próxima semana si no surgen indicios de soluciones para entonces”, declaró citado por The Guardian de Londres. “También creemos que es probable que los precios de crudo, especialmente los de los productos refinados, superen los picos de 2008 y 2022 si los flujos del estrecho de Ormuz se mantuvieran deprimidos durante marzo”.
El precio internacional del petróleo superó brevemente los 120 dólares por barril en 2022 y alcanzó máximos de 145 dólares por barril en la gran crisis económica y financiera de 2008, lo que en ambos casos tuvo graves consecuencias para la economía mundial.
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