Last week, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.

The meeting between two top diplomats is especially noteworthy because Rubio has been officially sanctioned by Beijing.

Before he was tapped by President Donald Trump to become US secretary of state, Rubio had served in the US Senate, where he was a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

The commission is charged with monitoring human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and submitting an annual report to the US president.

As a member of this body, Rubio sharply criticized the Chinese government for suppressing the democracy movement in Hong Kong, and for drastically restricting civil rights in the western province of Xinjiang.

Beijing lambasted what it saw as "interference in internal affairs" and placed Rubio on the sanctions list after the US government imposed punitive measures on Chinese politicians. The current US state secretary faced an entry ban and a freeze of any assets in China.

Last Friday, the first face-to-face meeting between Rubio and Wang took place behind closed doors in Malaysia.

Neither side revealed much about what was discussed but Chinese state media later reported that the talks were "positive, pragmatic and constructive."

At the Saturday press conference, Wang gave a brief summary of the conclusions made: Maintain contacts, avoid misjudgment, manage differences and expand cooperation.

However, he made no mention of whether Rubio would remain on Beijing's sanctions list.

There is a "strong will" in both Washington and Beijing to organize a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Rubio said after the talks. No date has yet been agreed.

While the US still remains the sole global superpower, the gap with China is narrowing.

President Xi wants China to become a "strong, democratic, civilized, and harmonious socialist nation" by 2049, the centenary of the People's Republic.

A study published by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) at the........

© Deutsche Welle