U.S. Undersecretary of State Landau: U.S. and Other Countries Cooperate on Critical Minerals to Break Free from China's Control

(Central News Agency reporter Hou Tzu-ying, Maryland, 5th exclusive report) U.S. Undersecretary of State Christopher Landau said today that the United States and other countries cannot continue to let China control critical mineral supply chains and arbitrarily 'turn the tap on and off'; one of the U.S.'s top priorities is to cooperate with other countries, including setting price floors and discussing processing facilities.

The U.S. State Department's Foreign Press Center held a press conference today on the sidelines of the "SelectUSA Investment Summit" in Maryland, where Landau responded to media questions.

When asked about the recent cooperation memorandum signed between the U.S. and Chile regarding critical minerals and rare earth supply, Landau stated that many countries, including the U.S., have in the past outsourced many extremely important economic activities to China and other countries, leading many companies to shift processing activities to China.

He pointed out that this "gives China a great deal of leverage over us," and U.S. President Donald Trump played a key role in warning about this.

Landau stated: "We indeed rely on China for the supply of many critical minerals, and these minerals are vital to the industrial base of the United States and even the world."

He believes it is very important that the U.S. and other countries cannot continue to allow themselves to be in a situation where China controls these critical mineral supply chains and can arbitrarily 'turn the tap on and off.'

Landau said that one of the U.S.'s top priorities is to sign cooperation memorandums with countries around the world, especially those with critical minerals, to cooperate on setting price floors to ensure that predatory pricing practices cannot be used to prevent new critical mineral development worldwide; in addition, "we are discussing issues related to processing facilities."

He believes this is crucial for global free economic development, stating: "No single country should have the ability to stifle global economic development."

In terms of critical mineral resources, China is the world's leading producer of rare earths, which are raw materials for critical magnets used in industries such as automotive, electronics, and defense. China's actions of threatening the world with rare earths have prompted Western countries to try to break away from their dependence on Chinese rare earths.

The U.S. has recently been actively seeking channels to acquire critical mineral reserves to reduce its dependence on China, including hosting the "Critical Minerals Ministerial Meeting" in Washington in February this year, attended by over 50 partners. The U.S. also signed a critical minerals agreement with the EU at the end of April. (Edited by Chen Cheng-kung) 1150506

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