21st-Century History Will Focus on US-China Relations: Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that the history of the 21st century will largely be defined by the relationship between the two countries, describing China as a significant national security threat to America.

"China wants to be the most powerful country in the world, and they want to achieve that at our expense, which is not in our national interest, and we’re going to address it. We don’t want a war over it, but we will address it," Rubio told Megyn Kelly during an interview on The Megyn Kelly Show on Thursday.

When discussing China, Rubio emphasized two main points: the grave threat it poses to US national interests and the mature realization that, regardless of what happens, China will become a rich and powerful country. "We’ll have to deal with it," he said.

“The history of the 21st century will largely be about what happens between the US and China. For us to pretend we’re not going to engage with them is absurd,” he added.

Rubio stressed the importance of prioritizing national interests, criticizing decades of US policies that treated China as a developing country and allowed it to exploit unfair trade and technology practices under the assumption it would eventually adopt American values.

Instead, Rubio said, China grew wealthy without transforming and is still seeking to benefit from that growth. "That has to stop," Rubio said in his first interview since becoming Secretary of State.

He also noted that China believes it is destined to be the greatest power on Earth by 2035 or 2050. "Whatever date they’ve set in their mind, they believe they are on an irreversible rise, and we are in inevitable decline. The West, and the US in particular, is a tired, spent, former great power in inevitable decline," he said.

"They believe foreign policy is about managing our decline and their rise, and they want nothing to interrupt it. That’s how they view the West at large, and the United States specifically," Rubio continued.

"So anytime our leaders sort of personify their vision of our problems, it only further cements their belief, and frankly invites them to do things they might not do if they had a different view of us," said the top US diplomat.

While acknowledging China’s status as a great power with a large economy, Rubio emphasized that China’s rise should not come at the expense of the US. "Ultimately, when dealing with great powers like China, it’s going to be at the highest levels—ours and theirs," he said.

In response to a question, Rubio stated that the US cannot allow China to control the Panama Canal. "We cannot allow any foreign power—particularly China—to hold that kind of potential control over it. That just can’t continue," he said.

"Having Hong Kong-based companies control the entry and exit points of the canal is completely unacceptable," he added, warning that if a conflict arose and China instructed those companies to block the canal, restricting US trade, commerce, and the deployment of its military to the Indo-Pacific, they would be compelled to comply.

"And we’d have a major problem on our hands," Rubio warned.

"Secondly, the US built this. We paid for it. Thousands of Americans died doing this," he continued, adding that in some cases, American naval vessels pay higher rates than other countries, like China.

"That’s also unacceptable," he said. "It was a terrible deal when it was made. It should never have been allowed. They’ll tell you it’s set by an independent administrative entity and not the government; that’s their internal problem. But we should not be in a position where we have to pay more than other countries. In fact, we should be getting a discount—or maybe it should be free because we paid for it," Rubio concluded.