Jakarta –
United States Foreign Minister (US) Marco Rubio met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The US and China are known to continue to encourage their respective agendas in the Asian region.
Rubio made his first visit to Asia since serving to attend the East Asia Summit and the ASEAN Regional Forum with ministers from Japan, China, South Korea, Russia, Australia, India, the European Union, and Southeast Asian countries.
Reporting from Reuters on Friday (11/7/2025), a meeting with Wang took place amid the increasing global tension due to President Donald Trump’s tariff policy. This week, China warned the US not to re-impose a large tariff for its belongings next month.
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Beijing also threatened to reply to countries in collaboration with the US to cut China’s involvement in the global supply chain.
Rubio’s visit became part of the US effort to revive the focus of foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region, outside the conflict that had been caught the attention of the Trump government in the Middle East and Europe.
But the focus was disturbed by the announcement this week about new import tariffs from the US to many Asian and allies, including 25% tariffs for Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, 32% for Indonesia, 36% for Thailand and Cambodia, and 40% for Myanmar and Laos.
Analysts consider Rubio to try to emphasize that the US is still a better partner than China, its main strategic rivals. The US State Department said Rubio had also met with the Foreign Minister from Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia on Friday.
The day before, Rubio conveyed to the Southeast Asian Foreign Minister that the Indo-Pacific region remained the focus point of US foreign policy.
China, which was originally charged with a tariff of more than 100%, has a time until August 12 to reach an agreement with the White House so that Trump does not reactivate the import restrictions that had been imposed during the tariff war retributed each other in April and last May.
Bullying behavior
Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, strongly criticized the US while in Kuala Lumpur. He told the Malaysian Foreign Minister that the tariff from the US is a typical unilateral bullying behavior and should not be supported by any country.
This was conveyed through the official statement of the Chinese government on Friday. To the Foreign Minister of Thailand, Wang said the tariff was a form of abuse of policies that damaged the free trade system and disrupted the stability of the production chain and global supply.
Meanwhile, when he met the Cambodian Foreign Minister, he stated that the US tariff was an effort to revoke the legitimate rights of Southeast Asian countries over development.
“We believe that Southeast Asian countries are able to face complex situations, maintain principles, and protect their own interests,” Wang said.
(ily/hns)