China resumes rare earth exports: Japanese media

China has resumed customs procedures allowing for the resumption of rare earth mineral exports to Japan, AFP reported, citing Japanese media reports. China has denied that it stopped shipments to Japan following a diplomatic spat around the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, but Japanese officials have complained that rare earth supplies have dried up. "In reality there is an export ban on rare earths … It’s important that China stop this extremely abnormal action at the earliest possible time," said Japan’s Economy Minister Banri Kaieda. The resumption of exports to Japan of rare earth minerals – in which China has a near monopoly, and which Japan uses in the manufacture of a wide range of high-tech products – is taken as a sign that tensions may be dissipating between the two countries.