Australia-US ,,,,,,, China on rare earth cooperation: "The problem is technology, dominance remains"

Recently, at the White House, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and U.S. President Donald Trump held a summit and announced the joint signing of the 'Australia-US Framework for Securing Stable Supply Chains for Critical Minerals and Rare Earths.' Australia and the United States are cooperating on the stable supply and mining of key minerals and rare earths related to defense and advanced technology manufacturing, and have agreed to invest a total of more than $3 billion (about 4.2 trillion won) over the next six months. Rare earths are used not only in advanced industries such as semiconductors and electric vehicles but also in the military sector. As a representative strategic mineral, China holds 70% of the world's rare earth supply and has long used its market dominance as a weapon in trade negotiations with other countries. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Australia's rare earth reserves are about 5.7 million tons, ranking fourth in the world after China (44 million tons) Brazil (about 21 million tons) and India (about 6.9 million tons). The problem is that China not only has abundant reserves but also leads in refining technology, leading to claims that "the key is technology, not resources," and that "China's dominance in rare earth supply will remain," which is an undeniable fact. China added, "Australia-US cooperation will not shake China's dominant position in the rare earth supply chain in the short term," and "the cooperation between Australia and the US has reminded China of the need to accelerate the deployment and stockpiling of key global metal resources." It added.