China’s foreign minister speaks with US’ Rubio ahead of Trump-Xi meeting

BEIJING – China hopes the United States can meet it halfway to “prepare for high-level interactions” between the two countries, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call on Oct 27, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump have “longstanding exchanges and respect each other”, Mr Wang said, calling Mr Xi and Mr Trump’s relationship “the most valuable strategic asset in China-US relations”, according to the ministry.

The call came ahead of

an expected meeting

between Mr Xi and Mr Trump in South Korea on Oct 30 on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit.

The Chinese read-out of the Oct 27 call stopped short of directly confirming that the two would meet, but the White House has previously said they will.

The US State Department said in a short statement that Mr Rubio and Mr Wang discussed the “importance of the US-China relationship and the upcoming meeting” between the countries’ leaders, without providing details.

Negotiators from the two countries met in Malaysia over the weekend to

hash out a framework trade deal

for the presidents to consider, on issues including soya beans and TikTok.

There has been a new flare-up of trade friction between the world’s two largest economies in recent weeks after a period of relative calm, with Beijing expanding its rare earths control and Washington pressing through with additional port fees on Chinese ships, sparking a wave of mutual countermeasures.

“China-US trade and economic relations (have) experienced some twists and turns,” Mr Wang said, according to the Chinese ministry’s statement.

The two sides “clarified their positions and enhanced understanding” during the trade talks in Kuala Lumpur, he said.

Bilateral relations can move forward as long as both sides are “committed to resolving conflicts through dialogue and abandon the practice of exerting pressure at will”, Mr Wang said.

Mr Trump, en route to Japan on Oct 27, said the US and China are set to “come away with” a trade deal.

Late on Oct 26, Chinese state media flagged the contentious issue of Taiwan, the most serious potential security flashpoint between Washington and Beijing, saying that a group of Chinese H-6K bombers recently

flew near Taiwan

to practice “confrontation drills”.

Mr Rubio said on Oct 26 that

Taiwan should not be concerned

about the US-China talks, despite some experts expressing concerns that Mr Trump might offer concessions over the island, which Beijing claims as its own and which under US law Washington is required to provide with the means to defend itself.

Mr Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies think-tank in Washington, said any US trade deal with Beijing will likely mean only a short-term stabilisation in ties between the countries.

“Both sides are managing volatility, calibrating just enough cooperation to avert crisis, while the deeper rivalry endures,” Mr Singleton said. REUTERS