Rubio to meet Chinese counterpart in Manila, US official says

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday in Manila on the sidelines of the ASEAN gathering, a US State Department official said on Tuesday.

Rubio, who arrived in the Philippines on Tuesday morning, had said he was open to the possibility of a meeting, though at the time his entourage did not publicly confirmed talks with his Chinese counterpart, who will also be in Manila on Wednesday and Thursday.

In a statement, the US State Department condemned "dangerous and aggressive actions" by China following a clash between China Coast Guard and Philippine Navy personnel in the West Philippine Sea.

"China's troubling pattern of provocations against the Philippines' legitimate maritime operations undermines regional peace and stability and directly contradicts China's repeated commitments to resolve disputes peacefully," it said.

Trump-Xi meet?

Analysts have said a Rubio meeting with his Chinese counterpart was likely to focus on preparations for a second meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping after the two met last May.

Trump has said Xi will visit the US at the end of September, and Rubio on Sunday said that the summit was still anticipated.

"I have no reason to believe that they won’t be coming. It’s important," he told reporters as he departed for ASEAN.

Tense US-China relations have stabilized under a temporary trade truce reached by Trump and Xi in October, but deep differences still define ties between the two nations, which many analysts see mired in a new form of Cold War.

"There are always going to be irritants, there are always going to be things we don’t agree on, but I think it’s incumbent on powerful and important countries like ours to continue to talk and have a relationship," Rubio told reporters. — Reuters