A senior US official on Thursday defended Washington’s new critical minerals push, telling the South China Morning Post that supply chain diversification is a national security measure, not an attempt to form an exclusive bloc as Beijing has claimed.
Deputy State Department spokeswoman Mignon Houston, speaking a day after the launch of the Forum on Resource Geostrategic Engagement, or Forge, described the US-led global coordination of strategic minerals as a “prudent step”.
She sidestepped…
