Rubio called China the "most potent, dangerous adversary" during his confirmation and is expected to work with India, Japan, and Australia to counter this.

On his first full day as secretary of state, Marco Rubio is meeting with his counterparts from a group of countries known as the Quad: the United States plus India, Japan and Australia, representing nearly 2 billion people and more than a third of global GDP.

The first Quad ministerial meeting of Australia, India, Japan and the US since President Donald Trump took office was held on Tuesday.