Jonathan Savage recaps Secretary Rubio's Asia trip

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jonathan Savage now with us from London, our Fox course
mana Jovian, welcome in, thanks for being here.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hello, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:06):
So let's talk about this age a trip our Secretary
of State Marco Rubio was on. How did it turn out?
What's the thought process and people's reaction over there?

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yeah, he was going to a meeting of the Asian Group.
It's a collection of Southeast Asian countries. It's a group
which it talks about economy, it talks about peace and stability, security,
and many many of these countries concerned about what China
has been up to. But China was there too, side
by side as oppose with the US, both pitching to

(00:36):
these countries they are the better big brother, the better
international partner. Secretary Rubio's job perhaps made a little harder
by the fact that many of the Asian countries have
the threat of tariffs hamming hanging over them at the moment. Now,
he said he's not a trade negotiator. He said that
he was happy to talk about trade, but he was

(00:57):
mostly there to talk about the national security offer.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Was there anything happening as far as good response from
people he spoke with, like, yeah, we're on board. What
do you want to do, let's work it out or
was there pushback.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Well, he did sign a nuclear civil nuclear agreement with
Malaysia Cooperation Agreement, for example. But this I think that
China would be probably pretty happy with the fact that
at the same time the Asian Group, their leaders there,
their final statement from the summit mentioned concern about the
tariff situation, so perhaps it was a little bit uncomfortable,

(01:32):
and at the same time the Chinese looking for an opportunity.
The Chinese Foreign Minister standing side by side with the
Cambodian Foreign Minister in just one example, saying that China
is willing to be Cambodia's trustworthy and reliable friend and
partner in the face of a turbulent global situation. So
you can see what they're doing there.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, and a lot of times we see that some
agree with us and some partner up with each other
against us, and for the most part, China is still
the biggest adversary in all of this, so movement in
the right direction. It sounds like.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Perhaps there were certainly talks between a Secretary Rubio and
the Chinese Foreign Minister which they described as constructive, saying
there were areas of potential cooperation, also suggesting it's likely
that President Trump is going to visit China to meet
President shi Jinping at some point. He said, both sides
want it to happen. China and the US, of course,
are huge trading partners. They have a fragile relationship. They

(02:28):
don't see eye to eye on a good number of things.
But the negotiations are ongoing to try to find a
deal that will satisfy the Trump administration.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, President Trump's no stranger that are crossing over borders
to talk to our adversaries, as he did in his
first term in North Korea. So maybe he'll get something
done with China. And certainly he's not happy with Putin
right now. There's a big speech coming later today on
Putin still saying one thing and doing another when it
comes to the war with Ukraine. So well, Jonathan, thank
you so much, buddy. I appreciate the updated