U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's visit to Central America aims to counter China's growing influence. Amid President Trump's agenda to 'take back' the Panama Canal, concerns rise over U.S. intentions.

The State Department has not commented on whether Rubio will meet with his PRC counterpart at the Munich Security Conference

Secretary of State Rubio spoke with China's Director of the CCP Central Foreign Affairs Commission and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

The United States under the administration of newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump affirmed its “ironclad commitment” to the Philippines amid the “dangerous” actions of China in the South China Sea.

The new administration's immigration crackdown is likely to be among the top issues during talks, but US President Donald Trump's claim that the Central American nation had ceded control of the Panama Canal to China will also loom large.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the UK and US were “working together” to improve the security of people in the two countries after speaking with new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mr Lammy said he spoke to Mr Rubio,

Such high-level communication includes a series of meetings held during Vice-President Han Zheng's trip to the US last week as Xi's special representative to attend Trump's inauguration ceremony. On Friday, Wang told Rubio the "two heads of state have pointed out the direction and set the tone for China-US relations".

Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) stated that it detected six Chinese military aircraft and seven naval vessels around Taiwan between 6 am (local time) on Saturday and 6 am (local time) on Sunday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has raised concerns over Beijing's coercion against Taiwan during a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, Focus Taiwan reported, citing the US Department of State.

The Philippine coast guard says Chinese coast guard ships and a Chinese navy helicopter harassed a group of Philippine fisheries vessels conducting a scientific survey in a hotly disputed area of the South China Sea,

New Secretary of State Marco Rubio told China's foreign minister on Friday that the U.S. would put the American people first and promote U.S. interests in its relationship with Beijing.