China controls 97 percent of the world's supply of rare-earth metals, 17 elements vital to the manufacture of high-tech products ranging from cellphones to the U.S. military's precision-guided munitions. China's move to restrict their sales has alarmed advanced economies around the globe.
Yang's assurances notwithstanding, tensions continued between China and Japan. Chinese officials blasted both Japan and the United States over disputed islands in the western Pacific, declining to hold a meeting with Japan's prime minister and lecturing Clinton about the U.S. stance on the islands.
The moves by Beijing surprised diplomats because China and Japan had been expected to use the summit to improve ties. Relations deteriorated last month when Japan's coast guard detained a Chinese fishing boat captain after he plowed his trawler into two coast guard vessels. China cancelled a series of meetings with Japanese officials and stopped exporting rare earths. Japan then released the captain.
On Friday, China accused Japan of ruining the atmosphere for talks between Premier Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart, Naoto Kan, accusing Japan of giving "untrue" media statements. China's Foreign Ministry then turned on Clinton, expressing "deep dissatisfaction" with her views on the islands.
China's comments came in reaction to a joint press conference that Clinton held Wednesday in Hawaii with Seiji Maehara , Japan's foreign minister. Maehara reiterated that the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, were part of Japanese territory, and Clinton said the disputed island chain falls within the Japan-U.S. security alliance.
"The Senkaku Islands, in terms of history and international law, are inherent territory of Japan," Maehara said.
Japan's actions violated "China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue said, according to the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua.
China's Premier Wen then failed to meet with Kan on Friday evening in Hanoi, even though Japanese officials had said a meeting had been set. Chinese diplomats denied a meeting had been scheduled.
The rift between China and Japan is just one of several China-related disputes bedeviling the region , which is the world's most dynamic economically.
China has also alarmed its neighbors to the south -- in Southeast Asia -- by its claims to have sovereignty over the whole of the South China Sea, a 1 million square mile waterway through which more than 50 percent of the world's trade passes and which is believed to hold vast oil and gas reserves.
After years of playing down the issue, the U.S. government began focusing on China's claims this year in response to concerns from Southeast Asian nations that China had begun aggressively pursuing its claims. In July, Clinton, again in Hanoi, effectively rejected China's claims to the whole sea and pushed China and the other claimants - including Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia - to engage in negotiations.
On Saturday, Clinton reiterated the U.S. interests in the waterway, declaring that "the United States has a national interest in the freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce."
She did, however, praise China, following indications that Beijing has decided to resume multilateral talks with Southeast Asian nations over a code of conduct in the South China Sea.
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