China has reassured the US it has no intention of withholding rare earth minerals from the market, the US Secretary of State has said. China suspended export of the metals, key to some high-tech industries, to Japan after a diplomatic spat. The US has pressed China, which has pledged not to use the minerals as a diplomatic weapon, to defuse the row. Representatives from China and Japan also held informal talks on the fringes of an Asean conference in Vietnam. US officials said Hillary Clinton's Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, told the US secretary of state that his country would not use rare earths as a diplomatic, political or economic tool in dealing with other countries.
