US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described China as both America's top geopolitical challenge and its most important relationship to manage.
"It's both our top political challenge, geopolitically, and it's also the most important relationship for us to manage," Rubio said in an interview with Fox News airing on Wednesday.
"It's a big, powerful country. It's going to continue to grow, but we're going to have interests of ours that are going to be in conflict with interests of theirs. To avoid wars and maintain peace and stability in the world, we're going to have to manage those".
Rubio's remarks came aboard Air Force One en route to Beijing despite the Secretary being under Chinese sanctions.
Hormuz tensions
A diplomatic workaround appeared to hinge on Beijing altering the Chinese spelling of his name to allow the four-day visit.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to hold a two-day summit on Thursday and Friday.
The trip, initially planned for April, was delayed due to the US-Israeli war against Iran.
Regarding tensions over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Rubio said: "It's in (China's) interest to resolve this.
We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they're doing now in the Persian Gulf".
Rubio laid out three reasons the crisis runs against Beijing's interests: Chinese vessels have already been targeted in the Gulf, Asia is heavily dependent on the strait for energy, and China's export-driven economy will take a direct hit if global demand falls.
