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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington will urge China to take a more “active role” in efforts to resolve the conflict with Iran as President Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, Fox News reported.
Speaking Wednesday from Air Force One while en route to China, Rubio said U.S. officials had made their case to Beijing on why it should engage in efforts to ease tensions with Iran.
“It’s in their interest to resolve this,” Rubio told Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they're doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf,” he said.
Rubio said China would have a chance to act at the United Nations later this week on the Iran issue.
“We've made the argument to the Chinese, and I hope it's compelling. And they'll have a chance to do something about it at the United Nations later this week,” he said.
Rubio said it is in Beijing’s interest to help Washington address the Iran crisis despite China’s strategic ties with Tehran.
He said Chinese ships remain stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, adding pressure on China’s economy.
China has the opportunity to support condemnation of Iran’s actions on Hormuz at the United Nations, according to the report.
“China's economy is export-driven, meaning their economy is fueled not by what they consume domestically, but by what they make and sell to other countries,” Rubio said.
“Economies are melting down because of this crisis in the Strait,” he added. “They're going to be buying less Chinese product, and the Chinese exports are going to drop precipitously.”
Trump’s meeting with Xi will be the first by a U.S. president since Trump’s own visit to China nine years ago.
The high-stakes two-day summit is expected to include discussions on artificial intelligence, Taiwan and trade as the U.S.-Iran conflict continues.
Rubio said the U.S. must balance its foreign policy toward China, describing Beijing as both a geopolitical rival and a key relationship for Washington to manage.
“(China) is both our top political challenge geopolitically, and it's also the most important relationship for us to manage,” Rubio said.
“We're going to have interests of ours that are going to be in conflict with interests of theirs. And to avoid wars and maintain peace and stability in the world, we're gonna have to manage those,” he added.
Rubio said Trump would cooperate with Xi where possible while maintaining U.S. demands, including a non-nuclear Iran.
“There are clearly areas where they're so important for the United States that we're going to have to raise those issues, and we'll continue to do so. The president's going to continue to do so,” Rubio said.
“There might be some areas of cooperation, too. And we want to make sure we don’t walk away from those,” he added.
China sidestepped its own sanctions on Rubio by changing the spelling of his name, allowing him to enter the country for the Trump-Xi meeting. Rubio was barred from China in 2020 over his criticism of Beijing’s human rights record.
Rubio also questioned the purpose of NATO if alliance partners deny the U.S. use of bases in Europe.
“One of the reasons I supported NATO is because it gave us basing rights in Europe,” Rubio said.
“So when NATO partners like Spain deny us use of these bases, the primary reason for why NATO is good for America, then what is the purpose of the alliance?” he added.
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