Rubio called China the "most potent, dangerous adversary" during his confirmation and is expected to work with India, Japan, and Australia to counter this.

On his first full day as secretary of state, Marco Rubio is meeting with his counterparts from a group of countries known as the Quad: the United States plus India, Japan and Australia, representing nearly 2 billion people and more than a third of global GDP.

China indicated that sanctions on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wouldn’t impact official exchanges, in a sign that Beijing seeks to negotiate with the Trump administration over trade and other disputes.