"To protect the environment and natural resources, China will stick to the quota system to manage rare-earth exports next year, and quotas will also decline," the spokesman, Yao Jian, told state news agency Xinhua.

Xinhua said that Yao, in an interview, had given "no clear extent of the decline" in export quotas, but that his remarks "echoed" comments made by Wang Jian, a vice minister of commerce, at a press conference Monday.

"I believe China will see no large rise or fall in rare earth exports next year," Wang had said, according to Xinhua.

Wang had also emphasised that China "has no embargo on rare-earth exports, even though it uses a quota system as a method of management," Xinhua reported.

China's rare-earth exports and its control of 95 percent of the global market in the commodities have become a sensitive issue after Tokyo last month accused Beijing of restricting shipments to Japanese firms amid a territorial dispute.

Beijing has denied imposing any embargo, but a Japanese trade ministry survey released this month found that all 31 Japanese companies handling rare earths had reported disruption to shipments.

On Saturday, China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a meeting in Hanoi that Beijing aimed to be a "reliable supplier" of rare-earth minerals, a US official said.

"He made some very clear indications of how China is going to fulfil its contracts and to work with the international community and will be a reliable supplier," a senior State Department official said, on condition of anonymity.

Yang had "made clear that China did not want a problem on the issues associated with rare earths and was committed to handling this issue responsibly," the official told reporters.

Another US official said that Clinton had "sought clarification on the Chinese government's policy on the export of rare-earth minerals and received assurances."

Rare earths -- a group of 17 elements -- are metals used in high-tech products ranging from flat-screen televisions to lasers and hybrid cars.

China has cut rare-earth exports by five to 10 percent a year since 2006 as demand and prices soar, in a measure it says is aimed at minimising the harmful environmental effects of mining for the minerals.

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