Marco Rubio hints at US-China divisions minutes | Political News

Secretary of State Marco Rubio hinted at alarming variations between the U.S. and China, just minutes before President Trump was set to meet with President Xi Jinping in Asia.

Appearing on Fox News for an interview with Sean Hannity, Rubio mentioned the extremely anticipated assembly between President Trump and Xi, including that diplomacy can be key as discussions kicked off on Wednesday night time. Rubio said he anticipated the continuing warfare in Iran to be among the most contested points during the dialog, as China is taken into account a key ally of the Middle Eastern nation.

“When there’s conflict between what they want and what we want, that’s when the work of diplomacy and these personal relationships between the leaders is so critical. And there are times when some of those issues of conflict are irreconcilable. I think Iran is an example of that. Their clerical regime wants to have a nuclear weapon, and the world, led by President Trump, says that’s completely impossible, cannot happen, so unfortunately, there’s some areas like that where it comes up,” Rubio told Hannity.

“But there are areas where, if we can find areas of commonality, that’s very powerful and important. But we will have to manage these bilateral differences because they’re very significant. And when it’s two big, powerful countries, that falling apart could have tremendous significance on the global economy and on global peace,” he added.

Rubio continued by arguing that he believes China sees itself as “the world’s most powerful country,” a view he says the Trump administration disagrees with.

“My read has been what I think it’s been for a while, and that is, China has a plan, and they clearly view themselves — they believe they’ll be the world’s most powerful country. They’ll surpass the United States, and they have a plan to do it. And they’re executing on that plan, and I don’t blame them — if I were the Chinese government, I’d have the same plan. We, on the other hand, don’t view it that way, and we don’t want to see anything,” Rubio said.

“We don’t want to constrain China, but their rise cannot come at our expense. Their rise cannot come at our fall. So, there’s an area where we’re just going to have a difference of opinion. But my view of them, and of the government in China, is that they’re very confident, they have a plan, and they’re trying to execute on that plan, which is fine — I understand that from a nation-state perspective, but when that plan is in conflict with the national interests of the United States, we need to do what’s right for the United States,” he added.

Rubio’s remark on China’s relationship to Iran got here after Trump appeared to downplay variations between the 2 governments on the battle.

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“We’re going to have a long talk about it. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you,” Trump said of his plans to talk about the battle with Xi. Minutes later, he added, “We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.”

Trump landed in China on Wednesday forward of a multi-day state go to that might have implications for the remainder of the world. Upon his arrival, he was welcomed by a group of 300 Chinese residents waving Chinese and American flags.

The president descended from Air Force One in China at around 7:50 p.m. local time on Wednesday. He was greeted by China’s vice president, Han Zheng, and the vice minister of overseas affairs, Ma Zhaoxu. Trump was also accompanied by frenemy Elon Musk, Nvidia’s Jesen Huang, his son Eric Trump, and his spouse, and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, Lara Trump.

Interestingly, Rubio, who as a senator was a champion of human rights in China, is visiting the nation for the first time despite having sanctions imposed on him. As a outcome, the Chinese authorities and official media started utilizing a different characted for “lu” to symbolize his surname and work around the sanctions, which embrace an entry ban.

On Tuesday, Chinese authorities said they’d not prohibit Rubio from coming into the nation despite the continuing ban, signaling that China is open to a comparatively pleasant relationship.

“The sanctions target Mr. Rubio’s words and deeds when he served as a US senator concerning China,” Liu Pengyu, the Chinese embassy spokesperson, said.