KUALA LUMPUR, July 12 — US State Secretary Rubio yesterday said 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 US 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 President Donald Trump this week.
Rubio had his first in-person talks with China’s foreign minister, which came after Beijing warned Washington 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 sharply criticised Washington during talks with Asian counterparts in Malaysia, calling the US tariffs “typical unilateral bullying behavior”.
But both sides yesterday called their bilateral meeting positive and constructive, 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 sit-down with Wang was not a negotiation, but rather about establishing a constructive baseline to continue talks.
Rubio noted Trump had been invited to visit China, and added: “It’s a visit he wants to undertake, and so we’ll work on finding the right date for that, but I’m sure it’ll happen because the president — both presidents — want it to happen.”
“We have to build the right atmosphere and build ... deliverables, so a visit isn’t just a visit, but it actually has some takeaways from it that are concrete,” he said.
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.
Trip overshadowed by tariffs
Rubio’s visit was 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 this was 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, 32 per cent for Indonesia, 36 per cent for Thailand and Cambodia and 40 per cent on goods from Myanmar and Laos.
China, initially singled out with levies exceeding 100 per cent, 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 US remains a better partner than China, Washington’s main strategic rival. Rubio yesterday also met his counterparts from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia.
Southeast Asia expert Murray Hiebert, from Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it was positive Rubio had made his first Indo-Pacific trip, but his pledge about US engagement was undercut by Trump’s treatment of key friends and partners on tariffs.
“This made it much easier for Wang Yi to talk about China’s stable and reliable economic relations,” he said.
Wang rebuked the US in Kuala Lumpur, saying no country should support or agree with its tariffs, according to remarks released by Beijing yesterday.
He told Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa 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 Prak Sokhonn, Wang said the US levies were an attempt to deprive Southeast Asian countries of their legitimate right to development.
“We believe 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, Asean foreign ministers expressed concern over rising global trade tensions and called for a transparent and fair multilateral trading system.
Without mentioning the US, they said unilateral tariffs are “counterproductive and risk exacerbating global economic fragmentation”.
Indispensable partnership
Rubio also met Russia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and said he and Lavrov 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.”
Rubio also met Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and South Korean Foreign Vice-Minister I Park Yoon-joo to discuss strengthening their “indispensable trilateral partnership”, the US State Department said.
Asked about Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s remarks on Thursday that Tokyo needs to wean itself off of its dependence on Washington, Rubio said it was not a comment to be viewed negatively.
“We obviously have very strong commitments and an alliance with Japan. We continue to cooperate very closely with them,” he said.
— Reuters
