WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell mentioned on Tuesday that america must do extra to counter Chinese language actions, together with its technique for creating army bases and its pursuit of rare-earth minerals in Africa.

Campbell informed a listening to of the Senate International Relations Committee that competitors with China was the “defining geopolitical challenge confronting modern American diplomacy.”

“We need to do more, and we have to contest Chinese actions, not only in terms of their forward basing strategy, but their desire to go after Africa’s rare earths that will be critical for our industrial and technological capabilities,” Campbell mentioned.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons famous that the U.S. didn’t have an envoy within the small African nation of Eswatini, one of many few remaining international locations that acknowledges Taiwan relatively than Beijing diplomatically.

“The place that really the Chinese are taking it to us is in international organizations,” Campbell mentioned.

“We have to be able to contest there. I don’t like going to a country in which we sit down with the leader and we don’t have an ambassador there; hasn’t been there for a couple years … I do believe we should put these folks on the field.”

Uncommon earths are very important for high-tech functions, together with protection gear, and for U.S. President Joe Biden’s efforts to affect the auto market to assist stave off local weather change.

The USA is raring to safe sources past China, which in 2022 accounted for greater than 70% of world rare-earth manufacturing.