Japan, the United States and South Korea agreed Wednesday to reinforce supply chains for critical minerals such as those used in semiconductors and electric cars to balance China's increased influence in the global economy.
During a meeting involving industry ministers from the three countries in Washington, the trio said they also agreed to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies, including those associated with export controls, research and developing international standards.
"Our shared intent is to leverage this trilateral mechanism to promote the development of critical and emerging technologies and strengthen the security and resiliency of our economies," Japanese industry minister Ken Saito and his U.S. and South Korean counterparts, Gina Raimondo and Ahn Duk Geun, said in a joint statement.
Without naming China, they said the three countries must work closely "to identify potential supply chain vulnerabilities for strategic goods that have resulted from a wide range of non-market policies and practices."
They said Japan, the United States and South Korea are concerned with "the weaponization of economic dependencies on certain supply sources for strategic goods."
As its geopolitical rivalries intensify, especially with the United States, China last year introduced strict export controls on gallium and germanium, metals crucial for producing semiconductors, on what it said were "national security" grounds.
Saito, Raimondo and Ahn said the three countries intend to hold a similar ministerial meeting annually in the future.
The inaugural meeting took place as part of efforts to broaden the scope of collaboration among Washington, Tokyo and Seoul beyond the realm of traditional security.
The policy direction was confirmed when U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a three-way summit in August last year with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Following the first trilateral meeting of its kind on Wednesday, Saito told a press conference that it is a "very important step" for like-minded countries such as South Korea, which has a complimentary industrial relationship with Japan, to make concerted efforts to build resilient supply chains.
Ahead of their discussions, Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's executive vice president for competition policy, joined them virtually and held a four-way meeting, according to Saito.
Saito also met bilaterally with Ahn and Raimondo, and attended an event involving the three countries' biggest business bodies at which the organizations signed an agreement to step up private-sector collaboration.
Citing the increasing uncertainty in global affairs, as seen in situations like Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Saito, when he was with Ahn, said cooperation between Japan and South Korea is becoming "more and more important for the development and stability of the region."
Ahn said the neighbors should "deliver results" in the fields of hydrogen and other new energy sources, critical minerals and trade.
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