Trump is scheduled to pay the first visit of his second term to China next week, a trip he delayed after he led the US in a joint attack alongside Israel against Iran.
Rubio, addressing reporters at the White House, said he was sure that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would discuss Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island claimed by Beijing.
“I think both countries understand that it is in neither one of our interests to see anything destabilising happen in that part of the world,” Rubio told reporters.
“We don’t need any destabilising events to occur with regards to Taiwan or anywhere in the Indo-Pacific, and I think that’s to the mutual benefit of both the US and the Chinese,” Rubio said.
China has ramped up its military presence around Taiwan in recent years and staged large-scale military drills.
While the US has an ambiguous policy on whether it would defend Taiwan, its military looks increasingly stretched as resources shift from Asia to the Iran war.
Rubio, who has never visited China, was an outspoken critic of Beijing’s human rights record while a senator, championing legislation that brought sanctions over Beijing’s alleged use of forced labour from the Uyghur minority.
The Trump administration has largely downplayed human rights, preferring to focus on promoting what it sees as core US interests such as trade.
Asked if Trump would raise human rights, Rubio said, “I think we’ve proven in some cases it’s most effective to raise them in the appropriate setting. But we always raise those issues.”
Rubio also called for China to put pressure on Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who left for Beijing on Tuesday.
Iran has exerted control over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil once transited, in retaliation for being attacked by the United States and Israel.
China has been by far the largest buyer of Iranian oil, defying sanctions unilaterally imposed by Trump since his first term against any country that is Tehran’s customer.
Meanwhile, Rubio also spoke by telephone Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the State Department, on a day of deadly Russian attacks in cities across Ukraine.
The two, who spoke at Lavrov’s request, “discussed the US-Russia relationship, the Russia-Ukraine war, and Iran,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a brief statement that provided no other details.
Russian forces launched attacks that killed 21 people in Ukraine on Tuesday, as President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Moscow’s “utter cynicism” for launching deadly strikes while seeking a truce to stage its May 9 patriotic parade.