Marco Rubio on China Negotiations, Russia Peace Talks & Iran Ceasefire | ASEAN Summit 2026 | AC1Z

[00:00:00]really could catastrophic for the world.

[00:00:01]And I think we have an obligation to do that, which is why it's important for us to continue to talk to China, irrespective of our differences. It's important to interview to go back to the height of the Cold War. Even in the height of the Cold War, even in its most tense moments, the United States and the Soviet Union were communicated, at least at a military-to-military level and even at a diplomatic level. And in many ways that prevented catastrophe. So, I'm not saying we're at that stage with China, but what I am saying is it would frankly be reckless and irresponsible for the US and China not to have a relationship given the impact and the and the our countries have on the global economy and on the world.

[00:00:35]>> Did you say that China with with Minister Wang Yi the the working group or any more details of the Board of Trade, Board of Investment >> Yes, we did. We did and we we're moving towards implementation of that and I think that's one of the potential, you know, concrete deliverables that we can have before September or when that visit happens. And um again, that those are good ideas and they're they come in the aftermath of the visit we took to China earlier this year and um so we did discuss that, yes.

[00:01:00]>> You said that Russia's Russia's Lavrov revealed that he's going to be meeting visit tomorrow.

[00:01:03]>> Yeah.

[00:01:04]>> If that happens, are you going to press him on Ukraine or are you simply keeping >> going to I I I don't know if the term is pressing. We're going to talk about it.

[00:01:11]You know, obviously, you know, the the the war in Ukraine, I think has in many ways impeded the ability of Russia and the United States to find areas of agreement on other topics. That doesn't mean we won't seek to find other areas of potential cooperation. But by the same token, you know, we'd like to see that war come to an end. We think it would be good for Russia if that war came to an end. So, we'll raise it and as I said, the US remains open and willing to play a constructive role in bringing that war to an end if that opportunity presents itself. And and it might, you know, we're we're open to it to to playing that role because we think right now, and I think the Russians would agree, we're probably the only country in the world that can play that role in that in trying to bring that to an end.

[00:01:51]>> What kind of role is the US playing right now in doing that? I mean, there's still some kind of quiet talks going on or average >> Well, you know, I think that you've seen kind of fall off a little bit over the last few months.

[00:02:01]Perhaps there are now new conditions in place that will allow that conversation to happen. It's one of the things we'll explore tomorrow in our conversation. I saw the Foreign Minister Lavrov last night briefly. We didn't talk about any of this, but I saw him last night when he arrived at the opening dinner and um we'll talk more tomorrow. Obviously, you know, to be fair to you guys, I mean, a lot of stuff I'll talk to him about I'm not going to like put in a press release because it undermines the ability to find understandings, but we'll talk about it and see if there's an opening now or an opportunity for us to play a constructive role. But there are other areas that we the US and Russia can cooperate on that we again going back to the point I made about China, you know, this is very simple. You know, Russia possesses the We are the two largest nuclear armed countries on the planet. For us not to talk would be reckless and irresponsible. We have to have a relationship with the Russian government even though we have areas of disagreement. And in the case of Ukraine, perhaps an opportunity that if we can play a constructive role to bring it to an end. So, you know, I'm sure that'll come up tomorrow. There's no doubt. But we'll talk about some other stuff, too.

[00:03:01]>> The Wall Street Journal reporting that President Trump has approved a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. Do you have any details on that?

[00:03:08]>> Yeah, I'm I'll I'll let the White House officials sort of put out an official statement about anything with regards to that, but I saw the same reporting this morning, but um let me let that go through that and if I don't I don't I'd prefer it be, you know, put out when there is something to say that we'll say it through official channels.

[00:03:27]>> Has the US and South Korea or other Asian allies to contribute naval assets or something you know >> We didn't ask them that today. We Look, I think it's to their benefit, right? If you look at the region, they heavily depend on oil and and natural gas that comes from this part of the world. Now, one of the interesting things you've seen is that the supplies that are reaching many of the countries in the region have begun to change. They're buying more LNG from us than ever before.

[00:03:50]They're also buying more oil from us than ever before. So, I think some of the changes you have seen in where people are getting their energy is are going to be permanent after what you've seen here. But, nonetheless, the straits remain an important source of energy for many of the countries in this region.

[00:04:04]It's about 20% of the global oil that that's purchased. So, um, I think we would we think it'd be to their benefit to participate in an effort >> today in these conversations?

[00:04:14]>> We didn't ask directly today, but we've had those conversations with them in the past. Every country has different restrictions on what they need to do in order to authorize that. Some have to get legislative approval.

[00:04:23]Uh, some can do it unilaterally. Every country's different. But, we've certainly raised it with different countries. We don't need them to do it, but we think it'd be beneficial if they did. And some of these countries have unique capabilities in terms of mine clearing and things of that nature. So, it'd be great if they if they join the effort, and I think some of them may eventually do so. It's in their interest to do so, but um, we we didn't reach any agreement on that today. Frankly, it wasn't the cornerstone of what our conversations were about.

[00:04:46]>> Mr. Secretary, consider a lot of the ASEAN countries have expressed how terrible the war in Iran is for them when it comes to, uh, economically and the energy crunch. Uh, but Israel's finance minister sort of struck a tone in a different direction. Said that the tit-for-tat is actually the best possible situation for Israel because it's weakening Iran. Uh, does this show that there are some differences between the United States and Israel when it comes to how they view this war? The United States is trying to end this, but the Israelis the hostilities continuing is in their benefit.

[00:05:19]>> Yeah, look, I can't comment on what some one individual in government said in Israel. You know, I can just generally tell you that by and large we think that a nuclear armed Iran is an unacceptable thing. It can't happen. And that's what they were going to do if they hid behind this conventional shield that they were building. And the president just wasn't going to stand by and allow that to happen.

[00:05:38]Within 2 years Iran could say we're breaking out to a nuclear weapon. You can't do anything about it, or we're going to overwhelm you with tens of thousands of drones and missiles, which they were on pace to build. They can't do that now. That certainly weakened them. As far as the impact it's had on the global economy, I mean Iran is targeting global shipping in an international waterway and demanding to control which ships can go and which ones cannot. That just is unacceptable.

[00:06:01]We're not going to accept that. We're not going to allow that to be the status quo.

[00:06:05]But ultimately, there are other countries that should feel just as strongly as we do because they're actually more impacted by it than we are.

[00:06:11]>> Did you discuss with Mr. Jaishankar? Did he raise it all any concern by India about the tariffs announced by the president on generic drug makers? A lot of Americans buy their generic drugs from Indian companies that import. Is that something that came up in your discussions at all?

[00:06:26]>> I mean, not with me I mean at the we didn't get into depth on pharmaceuticals today. Obviously, I would expect them to be concerned about it, but they didn't raise it today. But they might have with others in our system cuz we we obviously deal with India. We're very close to them. So >> Mr. Secretary, you and the president have been very [snorts] blunt in your anti-communist language. Recently, you put out that recent report on Cuba.

[00:06:45]Um, don't you think it's inconsistent and that you haven't addressed the same issues with China? They're the largest communist party in the world, 100 million >> Yeah, but our issues with communist interference inside of our country. Like that report was about what these different elements do to interfere in our country and to undermine our foreign policy and to >> talked about Chinese election interference in the US and there and as we know there are many other ways in which China has influence within the US.

[00:07:09]>> Well, again, what the president put out on Thursday, that was a declassification of documents from our intelligence community. That's what he put out. He declassified intelligence assessments from our intelligence community. But your question was about communist influence. Yeah, the United States doesn't want to be a communist country.

[00:07:23]We're never going to be a communist country and we're not going to allow communist influences to undermine our politics or our society.

[00:07:30]Um, so I don't know what the inconsistency you're referring to is.

[00:07:32]It's very clear. I don't you know, obviously we understand the Chinese system and other systems, but uh, I can tell you our system doesn't want communism and and we're certainly not going to allow communist efforts to undermine American society and drive wedges into our country and and that's what we're seeing and by the way one of the leading, you know, culprits of that for many years the intellectual authors of particularly in our hemisphere is the Cuban regime which which our report on Monday outlined >> I think are Cubans having a bigger impact than China.

[00:08:01]>> Express concern regarding the pressure between China and the Philippines in that substantiality.

[00:08:07]>> Did we discuss it with >> I I I