Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met for 90 minutes with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on July 22 on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Manila. This is the first high-level meeting between the two countries since President Trump’s visit to Beijing in May. Since then, President Trump has attacked alleged Chinese involvement in the 2020 election in a major address, but has not followed up in retaliatory actions against China. The topic did not come up in the meetings between the two foreign ministers directly, although Wang Yi said he had conveyed China’s position on the “recent series of negative words and actions by the US,” and called on Washington to respect China’s core interests.
The South China Morning Post quotes Wang as saying, “Our responsibility now is to follow the path set by the two heads of state, eliminate interference and overcome obstacles, and ensure that the consensus reached by the leaders is translated into consensus and action across the entire government and all sectors.”
