US secretary of state: Disagreements with China should be resolved peacefully

The US and China are two major powers with extensive global interests, but their national interests often clash, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the Munich Security Conference, Report informs.

He says "our national interests will often not align," but stresses the need to keep channels open and talk about how to figure it out, according to The Guardian.

"We owe it to the world to try to manage those as best we can, obviously avoiding conflict, both economic and worse," he says.

He also added that Washington believes it is essential to maintain relations with Beijing, as with other countries represented at the conference. However, any agreements should not be at the expense of US national interests, he noted.

He says "there are long-term challenges" and "irritants" in the West"s relationship with China, but "we need to try to manage those the best we can."

The secretary of state emphasized that the US has a special responsibility because everything that happens in trade relations between the US and China has global consequences.