Beijing Signals Readiness to Talk to Trump’s Team, Even Old Foes

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi held his first phone conversation Friday with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a sign that Beijing is willing to get down to business with the new Trump administration.

Rubio, a harsh China critic, was among a handful of U.S. officials China sanctioned twice in 2020, the last year of President

Trump’s first term. The call indicated that Beijing was prepared to work around the sanctions to engage with Rubio—at a time when Trump has shown a willingness to negotiate with Beijing as opposed to starting a trade war right away.