US, Indo-Pacific partners agree to strengthen maritime, critical minerals cooperation

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States. Australia, India and Japan have agreed to expand their cooperation on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and further collaborate on supplies of critical minerals and rare earths that are key components of high-tech production.

The foreign ministers of the four countries, known as the “Quad,” met in Washington on Tuesday as the Trump administration seeks to expand U.S. influence in the Indo-Pacific to compete with a rising China amid tensions with partners over trade and defense issues.

In a joint meeting with his three colleagues, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Quad must be a “vehicle for action” that goes beyond statements of intent and stressed that commerce and trade will be critical to ensuring the group’s relevance in the future.

To that end, the four announced in a statement the creation of a “Quad Critical Minerals Initiative” that aims “to strengthen economic security and collective resilience by collaborating on securing and diversifying critical mineral supply chains.” The statement did not provide details of the initiative.

“We are deeply concerned about the abrupt constriction and future reliability of key supply chains, specifically for critical minerals,” they said. “This includes the use of non-market policies and practices for critical minerals, certain derivative products, and mineral processing technology.”

The statement did not mention China by name, but Chinese domination of the critical minerals supply chain has long been a concern of the U.S. and others. The ministers expressed specific concern about rising tensions in the East and South China Seas, where Beijing has become increasingly assertive of maritime and territorial claims that are rejected by its smaller neighbors.

“We reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,” they said. “We express our serious concerns regarding dangerous and provocative actions, including interference with offshore resource development, the repeated obstruction of the freedoms of navigation and overflight, and the dangerous maneuvers by military aircraft and coast guard and maritime militia vessels, especially the unsafe use of water cannons and ramming or blocking actions in the South China Sea.”

The ministers also condemned North Korea for continuing to launch ballistic missiles, expand its nuclear weapons program and engage in malicious cyberactivity. In a veiled reference to North Korean support for Russia in its war against Ukraine, they expressed “deep concern about countries that are deepening military cooperation with North Korea, which directly undermines the global nonproliferation regime.”