Top diplomats from ¡°the Quad¡± nations of Australia, India, Japan and the United States have agreed to work more closely to secure supply chains for critical minerals, including rare earths ¡ª a sector dominated by China ¡ª in a bid to cut back their reliance on Beijing.
In a joint statement released after a summit hosted by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Tuesday, the four Indo-Pacific countries announced the launching of the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, which they called ¡°an ambitious expansion¡± of the partnership that will ¡°strengthen economic security and collective resilience by collaborating to secure and diversify critical minerals supply chains.¡±
Rubio said the plans would allow ¡°not just access to the raw material but also access to the ability to process and refine it to usable material.¡±
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