US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday he had “positive and constructive” talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as the two major powers vied to push their agendas in Asia at a time of tension over Washington’s tariff offensive.
The top US diplomat was in Malaysia on his first Asia trip since taking office, seeking to stress the United States’ commitment to the region at the East Asia Summit and Asean Regional Forum, where many countries were reeling from a raft of steep US tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump this week.
Rubio had his first in-person talks with the Chinese foreign minister, coming as Beijing has warned the United States against reinstating hefty levies on its goods next month and threatened retaliation against nations that strike deals with the US to cut China out of supply chains.
Wang has sharply criticised Washington during talks with Asian counterparts in Malaysia, calling the US tariffs “typical unilateral bullying behaviour”.
But both sides described the bilateral meeting as positive and constructive yesterday. And Rubio said the odds of Trump meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping were high.
“We’re two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on. I think there’s some areas of potential cooperation and I thought it was a very constructive, positive meeting, and a lot of work to do,” he told reporters.
Rubio emphasised that his sitdown with Wang was not a negotiation, but rather about establishing a constructive baseline to continue talks.
Asked about a possible Trump-Xi meeting, Rubio said both sides wanted to see it happen.
“We have to build the right atmosphere and build ... deliverables, so that a visit isn’t just a visit, but it actually has some takeaways from it that are concrete. But there’s a strong desire on both sides to do it.”
China’s foreign ministry said Wang had emphasised that both countries should translate consensus reached by their leaders into policies and actions,
“Both sides agreed that the meeting was positive, pragmatic and constructive,” it said.
Rubio’s visit is part of an effort to renew US focus on the Indo-Pacific region and look beyond conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the administration’s attention since Trump’s return to office in January.
But that has been overshadowed by this week’s announcement of steep US tariffs on imports from many Asian countries and US allies, including 25 per cent targeting Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, 32pc for Indonesia, 36pc for Thailand and Cambodia and 40pc on goods from Myanmar and Laos.
China, initially singled out with levies exceeding 100pc, has until August 12 to reach a deal with Washington to avoid Trump’s reinstating additional import curbs imposed during tit-for-tat tariff exchanges in April and May.
Analysts said Rubio would use the trip to press the case that the United States remains a better partner than China, Washington’s main strategic rival. Rubio met his counterparts from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia yesterday.
Wang has rebuked the United States in Kuala Lumpur, saying no country should support or agree with its tariffs, according to remarks released by Beijing yesterday.
He told Thailand’s foreign minister the tariffs had been abused and “undermined the free trade system, and interfered with the stability of the global production and supply chain”.
During a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, Wang said the US levies were an attempt to deprive Southeast Asian countries of their legitimate right to development.
“We believe that Southeast Asian countries have the ability to cope with complex situations, adhere to principled positions, and safeguard their own interests,” he said.
In a joint communique yesterday, Asean foreign ministers expressed concern over rising global trade tensions and the need to diversify trade, calling for a transparent and fair multilateral trading system.
Without mentioning the United States, they said unilateral tariffs were “counterproductive and risk exacerbating global economic fragmentation”.
Rubio also met Russia’s Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and said he and Lavrov had shared some ideas on a new or different Russian approach on Ukraine.
“I don’t want to oversell it, okay, but it was constructive,” he said yesterday. “We’ll find out, but there are some things that we will potentially explore, and I relayed that to the president and our team last night.”
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