KUALA LUMPUR: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday described his first meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as “constructive and positive,” adding there are high chances of a meeting between the Presidents of the United States and China.
“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.
“But I thought it was a very constructive and positive meeting and gave us some things we can work on together,” Rubio told reporters after meeting with Wang Yi.
When asked about the possibility of a meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping this year, Rubio said “the odds are high” but the two sides have to “build the right atmosphere and the right deliverables.”
“We didn’t discuss any specific date in mind in that regard, but the reason why I tell you, there’s a high probability they’re going to meet,” Rubio said.
“There’s a strong desire on both sides to do it … I don’t have a date for you, but I think it’s coming. It will happen,” he added.
The US top diplomat added the meeting with Wang “was not about negotiations” but establishing a “constructive baseline,” including on trade and “beyond,” stressing that the two nations “have to have” relations and maintain communication.
According to a statement from the US State Department, Rubio stressed “the importance of keeping channels of communication open.”
“The discussion was constructive and pragmatic,” the statement said about Rubio’s meeting with Wang.
It added that the two sides “agreed to explore areas of potential cooperation, while seeking to manage differences.”
US, NATO agreement on Ukraine
Expressing his views on Trump’s announcement of an agreement between the US and NATO to get new weapons for Ukraine, Rubio said the agreement was something that “Ukraine has already offered.”
He said the deal “is to buy weapons from the United States and then provide them to Ukraine at the end of the day,” as Europe does not produce some of the weapon systems that Kyiv needs, such as the Patriot missiles.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump said, “We are sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%.”
