“China welcomes this development and hopes that all relevant parties – including the US and Iran – will uphold the spirit of their agreement and earnestly honour their commitments,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a news conference, urging Washington and Tehran to “meet each other halfway” in the next stage of talks.
Beijing “has worked for peace since the outbreak of the war”, he said, and hopes the deal has a positive effect on easing the situation.
On a Group of Seven statement about critical minerals, Lin said: “China has not changed its stance on maintaining stability of global supply chains”.
He was responding to a joint statement by G7 leaders at a summit in France that they aim to reduce dependence on any one supplier outside the G7 and partner countries for rare earths and permanent magnets to below 60 percent by 2030, with an ultimate goal of 50 percent as soon as possible.
“We are committed to working towards establishing harmonised, interoperable mechanisms… This would start with two pilot critical minerals – lithium and nickel – and aim to avoid undermining competitiveness or imposing excessive cost burdens,” the leaders said.
The mechanisms would later expand to five new minerals each year with a focus on rare earth elements.
Lin said: “We urge the G7 to respect the laws of the market and stop disrupting the global economy with small factions.”
He also said Foreign Minister Wang Yi will attend the 16th meeting of Brics national security advisers and high representatives on national security in India from June 22 to 23. (AFP & Reuters)
