Australia, Japan, India and the United States, will collaborate to secure rare earth metals which are critical to the production of a wide array of goods ranging from fifth generation fighter jets, to smartphones, and electric cars, said Japan’s the Nikkei newspaper on Thursday.

The four-nation group, referred to as the “Quad”, are scheduled to hold an online summit meeting widely seen as part of an effort to counter a belligerent China, which has made territorial claims on lands with every neighboring country.

Beijing is also seen as waging an economic war by projecting itself as a manufacturing base and undercutting competitors by subsidizing state-backed companies, outright blatant theft of intellectual property by way of reverse engineering, launching hacking campaigns, funding research in western academic institutions, and using forced labor to produce goods and/or using them to source raw materials.

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