HONOLULU — The United States and Japan, grappling with the curtailment of strategically important minerals from China, said late Wednesday they would both need to find alternative sources of supply for these elements, as they sought to present a unified front in an increasingly tense Asian region, The New York Times reports.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she planned to question Chinese officials this week about reports that China had halted shipments of the rare earth minerals, and that she hoped Beijing would allow the shipments “continue unabated and without any interference.”

But even if the trade resumes, Mrs. Clinton said, “Our countries and others will have to look for additional sources of supply. That is in our interests commercially and strategically.”

China holds a near-monopoly on the production of rare earth minerals, which are used to manufacture a variety of advanced products, ranging from cell phones and wind turbines to missiles.

Shipments of raw rare earth minerals to Japan dried up during a spat over a Chinese fishing vessel that collided with two Japanese patrol boats near disputed islands. Shipments were later halted to the United States and Europe in the wake of an escalating trade dispute over state support of China’s clean-energy industry.

Chinese officials have said they need the supplies of rare earth minerals for their own industry and it is not reasonable to expect China to be the supplier of last resort for the rest of the world.

Read the entire story at nytimes.com