Trade tensions loom over Chinese, US top diplomats meeting in Malaysia

The chief diplomats of the two most powerful economies in the world, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held their first face-to-face meeting in Malaysia on July 11 in what experts view as a possible prelude to a summit between the countries' leaders.

The meeting lasted for about an hour and took place on the sidelines of a summit of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Caliber.Az reports citing the Washington Post.

Though the meeting took place during a time of fraught tensions over issues including trade and defense, Rubio described it as while noting both sides still had “issues” to resolve adding that there was a lot that the two countries could work on together. Asked what the outlook was for Trump and Xi to meet in person later this year, the secretary said the “odds are high” and that both sides want it to happen. “I don’t have a date for you, but I think it’s coming,” he said.

The US secretary downplayed the disputes between the two nations on issues such as trade and Taiwan, stating that the United States and China are “two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on.”

Chinese Minister Wang Yi, on the other hand, had been more fierce in his criticism of the US in Kuala Lumpur. According to the pan-Asian CNA agency, he told Malaysia's foreign minister the US tariffs were "typical unilateral bullying behavior" that no country should support or agree with, according to remarks released by Beijing on July 11. In a conversation with Thailand's foreign minister, Wang Yi decried that the tariffs had been abused and "undermined the free trade system, and interfered with the stability of the global production and supply chain" and went so far as to accuse Washington of attempting to deprive Southeast Asian countries of their legitimate right to development.

Rubio said a day earlier he would raise US concerns over China's support for Russ

"We believe that Southeast Asian countries have the ability to cope with complex situations, adhere to principled positions, and safeguard their own interests," Wang said, according to China's foreign ministry.

Ahead of his meeting with Wang Yi, Rubio expressed his plan to speak to his Chinese counterpart about Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“The Chinese clearly have been supportive of the Russian effort. I think that, generally, they’ve been willing to help them as much as they can without getting caught,” Rubio said.

A high-profile meeting took place the previous day between Rubio and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Kuala Lumpur. While neither of the three countries is an ASEAN member, the summit was attended by representatives of those nations that enjoy close ties to that region, which also included European envoys.

By Nazrin Sadigova