2 Japanese held in China over alleged rare earths smuggling

China has detained two Japanese nationals over alleged attempts to take rare earth-related products out of the country.Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on Wednesday that one of the two was detained by Chinese authorities on May 18 and the other a week later, accused of violating Chinese laws governing the import and export of restricted goods. Tokyo confirmed the detentions, without giving further details, citing privacy.One of the detainees is an employee of a Japanese electric machinery maker’s China subsidiary. The individual was reportedly taken into custody in the northeastern city of Dalian last month.