The meeting comes as Washington and Beijing are locked in disputes on issues ranging from trade and fentanyl to Taiwan and cutting-edge technology.

Rubio, a longtime China hawk, and Wang are in Kuala Lumpur for a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Japan, South Korea and Australia are also attending.

The American diplomat's visit comes after US President Donald Trump threatened this week to impose punitive tariffs on more than 20 countries, many in Asia, if they do not strike deals with Washington by August 1.

Without mentioning the United States, Wang on Thursday called for a "fairer and more reasonable" international order.

"At the same time, we are also confronted with challenges such as the impact of unilateral protectionism and the abuse of tariffs by a certain major country," Wang said.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have ratcheted up since Trump took office in January, with both countries engaging in a tariff war that briefly sent duties on each other's exports sky-high.

At one point the United States hit China with additional levies of 145 percent on its goods as both sides engaged in tit-for-tat escalation. China's countermeasures on US goods reached 125 percent.

Beijing and Washington agreed in May to temporarily slash their staggeringly high tariffs -- an outcome Trump dubbed a "total reset".

Another issue likely to be on the agenda when the pair meet is Taiwan, which is a major point of contention between the superpowers.

China claims the democratic self-ruled island as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.

Like most countries, Washington has no formal diplomatic relations with the island.

However, the United States is Taiwan's biggest arms supplier and has shown increasing support for Taipei in the face of Beijing's growing military pressure on the island in recent years.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth accused China in late May of "credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power" in the Asia-Pacific region.

He also claimed that Beijing "trains every day" to invade Taiwan.

In response, Chinese diplomats accused the United States of using the Taiwan issue to "contain China" and called on Washington to stop "playing with fire."