Washington, February 14 – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday that Washington has an "obligation to communicate" with China, describing sustained dialogue between the world's two largest economies as a strategic necessity even amid deep structural tensions.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Rubio said: "The two largest economies in the world, two of the big powers on the planet, we have an obligation to communicate with them and talk." He added, "I mean, it would be a geopolitical malpractice not to be in conversations with China."
His remarks came in response to a question about an expected summit "in about two months' time" between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Rubio acknowledged that rivalry between Washington and Beijing is likely to persist. "Because we're two large countries with huge global interests, our national interests will often not align," he said. "Their national interests and ours will not align, and we owe it to the world to try to manage those as best we can, obviously avoiding conflict, both economic and worse."
He said engagement does not imply concessions. "Nothing that we agree to could come at the expense of our national interest," Rubio stressed, adding that the United States expects China "to act in their national interest, as we expect every nation-state to act in their national interest."
Rubio also noted that tensions in trade and technology have broader implications. "Whatever happens between the U.S. and China on trade has a global implication," he said.
At the same time, he left room for cooperation where possible. "On areas in which our interests are aligned, I think we can work together to make a positive impact on the world, and we seek opportunities to do that with them."
But he cautioned that differences are enduring. "There are long-term challenges that we face that we’re going to have to confront that are going to be irritants in our relationship with China," he said. "No one is under any illusions. There are some fundamental challenges between our countries and between the West and China that will continue for the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons."
In his broader address, Rubio urged Western nations to rebuild industrial capacity, secure "critical minerals not vulnerable to extortion from other powers," and invest in emerging sectors such as "cutting-edge artificial intelligence."
The Munich Security Conference, founded in 1963, has long served as a forum for transatlantic and global strategic debates. In recent years, discussions have increasingly centered on managing strategic competition with China, particularly over trade, technology, supply chains, and influence in the Indo-Pacific.
US-China ties have been marked by trade disputes, export controls on advanced technologies, tensions over Taiwan, and competing geopolitical interests. Even so, successive administrations have maintained high-level diplomatic channels to manage risks and prevent escalation between the two powers.
