“Because we’re two large countries with huge global interests, our national interests will often not align,” Rubio told the event in a keynote address on Saturday morning.
“We owe it to the world to try to manage those as best we can, obviously avoiding conflict, both economic and worse … but no one is under any illusion that bilateral relations will have fundamental changes.”
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Rubio’s remarks – ahead of US President Donald Trump’s expected trip to Beijing in April – were a continuation of his government’s softer rhetoric towards Beijing, even as he tried to rally the US’ allies against unnamed common challenges to Western civilisation.
“We have to have a relationship with China, and many of the countries represented here today are going to have to have a relationship with China, always understanding that nothing that we agree to could come at the expense of our national interest,” Rubio said.
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He added that the “goal of diplomacy is to try to navigate those times in which our national interests come into conflict with one another, always hoping to do it peacefully”.
