China calls on other countries to develop their own rare earth resources

After China announced this week that it would restrict export quotas of rare earth metals, a Chinese official Thursday encouraged other countries to develop their own domestic supplies of the elements, which are essential components in everything from cell phones to wind turbines.

"The international community has a joint responsibility to ensure the supply of rare earths. Other nations that have rare earth resources should proactively develop and make use of them, to jointly shoulder responsibility for global supplies," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said, according to Reuters.

The United States is working to develop its own domestic rare-earth supply. A company called Molycorp has plans to begin rare-earth mining at a site in California next year.

Jiang also said China is not violating World Trade Organization rules in reducing its rare-earth export quotas. The spokeswoman stressed that China will continue to export rare earths.

"This accords with relevant WTO rules. In the future, China will continue to supply rare earths to the international market and will take effective management steps over their export in accordance with WTO rules," she said, according to Reuters.