Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday, their first meeting in person since Rubio took office.
“Look, 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. I thought it was a very constructive, positive meeting and a lot of work to do,” Rubio said at a press conference after the meeting.
Rubio made it clear that the meeting was “not a negotiation” on any specific point of contention between the U.S. and China. He later said Wang did not lodge any complaint about military drills recently held by the Taiwanese, or quarrel with the U.S. about its position on Taiwan.
President Donald Trump greets Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) during a campaign rally, Monday, November 4, 2024, in Raleigh, NC. (Evan Vucci/AP)
The Chinese Foreign Ministry likewise praised the meeting as “positive, pragmatic, and constructive,” without providing any details.
According to the Chinese government, Wang told Rubio he wanted the U.S. to approach China in an “equal, respectful, and mutually beneficial manner” and “find a correct way for China and the U.S. to get along.”
Rubio said President Donald Trump has a “very good relationship” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, going back to Trump’s first term in office.
“Obviously there are some issues we’re going to have to work through, and that’s to be expected with countries of our size and scope and influence in the world,” he said.
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Rubio pointedly told the press he had no specific “announcement” to make, including on Trump’s hoped-for meeting with Xi, although he said the “odds are high” that such a meeting will take place.
“I think both sides want to see it happen. Obviously, we have to build the right atmosphere and the right 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,” Rubio said.
“I don’t have a date for you, but I think it’s coming. It’ll happen,” he added.
The secretary of state disagreed with a reporter who relayed the “argument” that U.S. tariffs are creating an “opening” for China to be “seen as the stable economic partner” in Southeast Asia.
“The United States has built these tremendous trade imbalances over the last 30 or 40 years. It’s unfair to America and American workers, in addition to threatening our industrial capacity. Trade needed to be revisited. The president campaigned on that, and that’s what he’s doing, and he’s resetting it on a global scale,” Rubio said.
Prior to meeting with Rubio, Wang complained about “the impact of unilateral protectionism and the abuse of tariffs by a certain major country.”
For his part, Rubio said in advance of the meeting that he wanted to ask China to step back from supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“The Chinese clearly have been supportive of the Russian effort, and I think that generally, they’ve been willing to help them as much as they can without getting caught,” Rubio said.
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