U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes part in a bilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers meeting in Pasay, Metro Manila, on Thursday. | Pool / via reuters
Jul 22, 2026
MANILA – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he discussed with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday the need to identify areas of cooperation to lay the groundwork for a “very positive visit” to Washington in September by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Meeting with Wang in Manila on the sidelines of a regional gathering led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Rubio said both sides had differences, but their job was to manage them and ensure they do not get out of control.
“The work we need to do now in September is to identify what those areas are, so that we can lay the groundwork for a very positive visit. ... We talked a lot about that,” he told reporters.
“There are areas of great differences. Both sides will acknowledge that. We’ll have to work through those, and I think these differences will exist for the foreseeable future.”
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