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Seoul (AFP) Nov 11, 2010 Shipments of valuable rare earth minerals from China to Japan still appear to be on hold, Japanese officials said Thursday, urging Beijing to resume exports after a diplomatic row. "There is no noticeable progress in this regard," Hidenobu Sobashima, deputy director general at the foreign ministry, told reporters as the G20 group of rich and emerging nations opened a two-day summit in Seoul. "We keep requesting the Chinese side for more information and more concrete results, but as far as the statistics and the facts go, there is not much progress," Sobashima said. Tokyo has accused China of restricting shipments of rare earths -- elements used in high-tech products from iPods to cars -- since a September maritime incident in disputed waters sparked a bitter diplomatic row. China, which controls 95 per cent of the global market, has denied any embargo, but a Japanese trade ministry survey in October found that all 31 companies handling rare earths in Japan had reported disruption to shipments. Japanese deputy cabinet secretary Noriyuki Shikata warned Thursday that "Chinese companies could suffer as a result -- we are exporting some of those parts or materials (made with rare earths) to China". "It's in the interests of the Chinese side" to resume shipments, he said. Japan is in talks with "many candidate countries" over alternative rare earth supplies, Shikata said, including India, Vietnam, Mongolia and Botswana, while private-sector deals are already in place with Australian firms. Rocky relations between China and Japan led to the cancellation of a planned meeting between the two countries' premiers at a Southeast Asian summit last month. There are no plans for their leaders to hold bilateral meetings at the G20 or at an Asia-Pacific economic summit in Yokohama this weekend, officials in each country have said. Japan's foreign minister was quoted in media reports Tuesday as saying China had asked Japan and other countries not to send representatives to a December ceremony awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. But Japan "will make our own decision" on attending the event, Sobashima said.
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