When US officials met their Philippine counterparts in Kuala Lumpur this month to discuss critical minerals, few outside industry circles realised the quiet significance of the conversation: a new front in the global contest over resources essential to modern technology and national security.
Now, a potential rare earths deal between the United States and the Philippines has drawn attention to the largely overlooked abundance of these strategic resources in the Southeast Asian nation – and to the decades-long flow of Philippine raw materials to China.
For years, Manila may have been unwittingly supplying China with the vital ingredients for manufacturing items ranging from smartphones and electric vehicles to missiles, satellites and military aircraft, industry insiders say.
During the meeting in Kuala Lumpur on July 10, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro that Washington was interested in “the Philippines’ wealth in critical minerals and stressed the need to diversify critical mineral supply chains”, according to a State Department statement.
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