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How tense relations are between Beijing and Washington is evident from the fact that the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been subject to Chinese sanctions since 2020. When the first phone call took place on Friday between Rubio and his long-serving counterpart in Beijing, Wang Yi, he immediately issued a warning: Rubio should behave, Wang told him. Wang used a Chinese phrase that – interpreted more politely than the Foreign Ministry in Beijing did in the English statement on the phone call – can mean that he, i.e. Rubio, should “behave accordingly.” The phrase is primarily used in the context of a senior teacher who wants to reprimand or warn his student.
