On August 19, China announced it would relax restrictions on exports of fertilizers, rare earths, and tunnel-boring machines to India, in what looked like a goodwill gesture ahead of Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi on August 21–22. The decision followed talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in Beijing.The optics are clear. After years of tightening export curbs, Beijing is offering a temporary reprieve. Since 2023, it has restricted gallium, germanium, and graphite—critical to India’s electronics, EV, and clean energy industries. In June this year, Chinese battery giant CATL even pulled engineers from Foxconn’s Chennai plant, halting production.
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