Rubio meets Chinese foreign minister, discusses laying groundwork for Xi's US visit
Rubio meets Chinese foreign minister, discusses laying groundwork for Xi’s US visit
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of an ASEAN gathering and discussed the need to lay the groundwork for a “very positive visit” to Washington in September by President Xi Jinping.
MANILA: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he discussed with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday (Jul 22) the need to identify areas of cooperation to lay the groundwork for a “very positive visit” to Washington in September by President Xi Jinping.
Meeting with Wang in Manila on the sidelines of a regional gathering led by Southeast Asian bloc ASEAN, Rubio said both sides had differences, but their job was to manage them and ensure they do not get out of control.
“The work we need to do now in September is to identify what those areas are, so that we can lay the groundwork for a very positive visit … we talked a lot about that,” he told reporters.
“There are areas of great differences. Both sides will acknowledge that. We’ll have to work through those, and I think these differences will exist for the foreseeable future.”
“We’re obviously always going to defend our national interest, and I expect they’ll do the same as they define it, but I think there are some areas of potential cooperation,” he added.
Wang did not speak to media immediately after the meeting and China had yet to issue a statement on the talks with Rubio.
FRAGILE TRUCE
Their talks, which lasted about 90 minutes, came amid a fragile truce between the world’s biggest economies that could be complicated by President Donald Trump’s accusations of Chinese meddling in US elections, which Beijing has called “pure fabrication”.
Rubio said the allegations of election interference were not discussed with Wang.
Tense US-China relations have been more stable under a temporary trade accord reached by Trump and Xi in October. The two leaders met in May in Beijing, and China said Xi would make a state visit to the United States in the autumn.
“It would frankly be reckless and irresponsible for the US and China not to have a relationship, given the impact our countries have on the global economy and on the world,” he said.
In an opinion piece published by the Philippine media ahead of the meeting, Rubio criticised Beijing’s conduct in the South China Sea, saying regional US allies faced “new and coercive threats”.
Asked about Monday’s altercation between China’s coast guard and Philippine navy personnel, Rubio said it was an escalation that benefited no one, and Washington had reiterated in all its meetings that it was bound by its defence treaty to stand up for Manila.
“We intend to live up to our treaty obligations, and I think we’ve done so, and will continue to do so,” he said.