MUNICH, Feb 14 — China said Saturday that Foreign Minister Wang Yi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had agreed to promote the “stable development” of bilateral ties, as the two countries prepare for President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in April.
Hours after their meeting in Germany on Friday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Wang and Rubio agreed to step up dialogue and cooperation in a range of areas.
“As long as we uphold an attitude of equality, respect and mutual benefit, both sides can find solutions to resolve each other’s concerns and properly manage our differences,” the ministry quoted Wang as telling Rubio.
The U.S. State Department has not disclosed what Rubio and Wang discussed.
The second face-to-face meeting of the top diplomats, held on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, followed a call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month.
After the conversation, Trump, who is hoping to meet Xi in April, said they discussed “many important subjects,” including trade, Taiwan and the current situation in Iran.
Trump has for months softened his rhetoric on China. But in recent weeks, his administration has doubled down on its efforts to create a framework with allies to reduce their overreliance on the Asian power for critical minerals.
The administration’s announcement in December of a huge package of arms sales to Taiwan also sparked a backlash from Beijing, which claims the self-governing island is a part of its territory that will be brought into its fold, by force if necessary.
During the call, Xi stressed that Taiwan is the “most important issue” in Sino-U.S. relations and that the island will “never be allowed to separate from China,” according to the ministry.
Although it said China and the United States agreed that the latest meeting was “positive and constructive,” tensions persist.
Earlier this week, Rubio voiced strong criticism over the sentencing of Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison, calling it an “unjust and tragic conclusion” to the internationally high-profile case.
Lai, an outspoken critic of China’s Communist Party, was convicted of subversion and collusion with foreign forces under a Beijing-decreed national security law that was introduced in Hong Kong in 2020.
Trump revealed in December that he had asked Xi to consider releasing the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, noting his poor health.
Trump plans to visit the Chinese capital in the first week of April, according to U.S. news website Politico. It will be his first visit to China since his second term began in January 2025.
Trump and Xi last met in South Korea in late October, during which they agreed to a one-year truce in a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. They did not discuss Taiwan at the time.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is expected to meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in the coming weeks to lay the groundwork for the forthcoming summit.
On Monday, Bessent said senior U.S. officials visited China last week to prepare for his meeting with He.
Rubio and Wang held their first in-person meeting in July last year in Kuala Lumpur. – Kyodo News
