Trump State Secretary Pick Vows to Confront China

Marco Rubio, Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, said Wednesday that a "dangerous" China cheated its way to superpower status as he vowed to ramp up support to deter an invasion of Taiwan.

- - AFP, Reuters, Michael Punongbayan, Ghio Ong

WASHINGTON -

Rubio laid out his worldview to fellow senators at a confirmation hearing that took place just as Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in their 15-month war, a long-sought goal of US President Joe Biden's outgoing administration.

Rubio, who is expected to secure confirmation easily, described China as "the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever faced" and warned of drastic impacts if the United States does not act.

"If we stay on the road we're on right now, in less than 10 years virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not - everything from the blood pressure medicine we take to what movies we get to watch," Rubio said.

He vowed to ramp up defense of Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island claimed by Beijing, to prevent a "cataclysmic military intervention."

"We need to wrap our head around the fact that unless something dramatic changes, like an equilibrium (between China and Taiwan), where they conclude that the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high, we're going to have to deal with this before the end of this decade," Rubio said. "That's an unacceptable outcome."

The outgoing Biden administration has taken measures to block China's access to semiconductor technology and kept in place some policies toward China from Trump's first term, but Trump has said he will impose many more tariffs on Chinese goods.

Rubio has long been one of Congress' leading advocates for a stronger China policy. His support for Hong Kong democracy protesters earned him Chinese sanctions in 2020, meaning he could be the first secretary of state under active Chinese travel restrictions.

He also said Washington must help the self-governing island of Taiwan with its so-called porcupine strategy to discourage an invasion by making it harder for China to attack.