Rubio: We don't need any destabilizing events regarding Taiwan

(Patria) - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned against "destabilizing" actions towards Taiwan ahead of President Donald Trump's visit to China and called on Beijing to increase pressure on Iran.

Trump is scheduled to visit China next week - a trip he postponed after leading the United States in a joint attack with Israel against Iran.

Rubio, addressing reporters at the White House, said he was sure Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would discuss Taiwan.

"I think both countries understand that it is not in the interest of either of us for anything destabilizing to happen in that part of the world," Rubio told reporters.

"We don't need any destabilizing events regarding Taiwan or anywhere in the Indo-Pacific, and I think that is in the mutual interest of both the United States and the Chinese," Rubio said.

China has increased its military presence around Taiwan in recent years and conducted large-scale military exercises.

Although the United States has an ambiguous policy on whether it will defend Taiwan, its military appears increasingly strained as resources are shifted from Asia to the war with Iran.

Rubio, who has never visited China, has been an outspoken critic of Beijing's human rights record while a senator, advocating for legislation that imposed sanctions for the alleged use of forced labor of the Uyghur minority in Beijing.

The Trump administration has largely downplayed human rights, preferring to focus on promoting what it considers key US interests, such as trade.

When asked if Trump would raise the issue of human rights, Rubio said: "I think we have shown in some cases that it is most effective to raise them in the appropriate setting. But we always raise these issues."

Call for pressure on Iran

Rubio called on China to exert pressure on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who visited Beijing on Tuesday.

Iran has taken control of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil once passed, in retaliation for the attack by the United States and Israel.

China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil, defying sanctions that Trump unilaterally imposed since his first term against any country buying from Iran.

"I hope the Chinese will tell him (Araghchi) what they need to tell him, and that is that what you have done in the strait is causing your global isolation," Rubio said. "You are the villains in this," he said.

"You shouldn't be blowing up ships."

The United States is also blowing up ships. The US military announced on Monday that it had destroyed six small Iranian vessels, accusing them of endangering shipping.

During the war, a US submarine torpedoed an Iranian frigate off Sri Lanka, killing 104 sailors and leaving them to drown.