US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday, affirming Washington does not back Taiwan independence, according to China's foreign ministry, a detail omitted from the American side's read-out.

"The United States does not support 'Taiwan independence' and hopes that the Taiwan issue will be peacefully resolved in a way accepted by both sides of the Taiwan Strait," Rubio said in a call that he requested, according to Beijing's foreign ministry.

However, in the State Department's telling, Rubio "stressed the United States' commitment to our allies in the region and serious concern over China's coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea".

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.

Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons, as authorised by the Taiwan Relations Act.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for clarification about the differing accounts of what was said about Taiwan.

The call marks the first direct contact Rubio has had with Beijing after a string of one-to-one engagements with counterparts throughout the Indo-Pacific region, including those in Japan and the Philippines.

In both those cases, their joint statements warned of a need to counter China's "destabilising actions" in the region.

In its read-out of Rubio's call with Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son, also on Friday, the State Department said they "discussed regional concerns to include China's aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea".

Friday's calls follow one held a week prior between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping - days before the American leader was inaugurated for his second term.

The two in their call pledged to establish "strategic channels of communication and maintain regular contacts on major issues of common interest", according to a read-out from Beijing.

Trump at the time posted on social media that the conversation was a "very good one" for both China and the US, saying the two "will do everything possible to make the world more peaceful and safe".

And in an interview with Fox News late on Thursday in which he said Xi "was like my friend", Trump was asked whether he could strike a deal with China on trade practices and replied, "I can do that."

"We have one very big power over China and that's tariffs and they don't want them and I'd rather not have to use it," Trump said.

He described his call with Xi as "a good, friendly conversation", adding that the Chinese leader "was like my friend".

As for Wang's exchange with Rubio on Friday, China's top envoy was said to have stated that "we have no intention of surpassing or replacing anyone, but we must defend our legitimate right to development", according to Beijing's report.

Wang also urged Rubio to "play a constructive role for the future of the people of China and the US and for the peace and stability of the world".

The State Department's read-out, meanwhile, said Rubio told Wang the Trump administration would pursue a bilateral relationship that "advances US interests and puts the American people first".

Rubio earned a reputation during his many years in the US Senate for espousing a hardline China policy.

He sponsored the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, for example, a law that authorised the sanctioning of more than a dozen officials from the semi-autonomous city and in mainland China. Beijing twice sanctioned him in 2020.

The first instance came in retaliation for US measures against senior Chinese officials over the treatment of ethnic minority Uygurs. The second was after mainland and Hong Kong officials were sanctioned following the 2019 protests in Hong Kong.

While the recent phone calls carried signals of intent to continue bilateral engagement, a more hawkish message emerged from Capitol Hill on Friday.

Lawmakers in the US House announced they would reintroduce a bill that would require Trump to review whether Hong Kong officials should be sanctioned for human rights violations.

American lawmakers have long sought to punish authorities they deem responsible for a crackdown on pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.

Among the dozens named in the bill sponsored by California Republican Young Kim are Hong Kong Justice Secretary Paul Lam Ting-kwok, Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu Chak-yee and judges Andrew Chan Hing-wai, Johnny Chan Jong-herng, Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, Alex Lee Wan-tang, Esther Toh Lye-ping and Amanda Woodcock.

Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the bill's Democratic co-sponsor, was sanctioned by Beijing last year for "frequently interfering" in China's domestic affairs.

 China's veteran foreign minister has issued a veiled warning to America's new secretary of state: Behave yourself.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi conveyed the message in a phone call Friday, their first conversation since Marco Rubio's confirmation as President Donald Trump's top diplomat four days earlier.

“I hope you will act accordingly,” Wang told Rubio, according to a Foreign Ministry statement, employing a Chinese phrase typically used by a teacher or a boss warning a student or employee to behave and be responsible for their actions.

The short phrase seemed aimed at Rubio's vocal criticism of China and its human rights record when he was a U.S. senator, which prompted the Chinese government to put sanctions on him twice in 2020.

It can be translated in various ways — in the past, the Foreign Ministry has used “make the right choice” and “be very prudent about what they say or do” rather than “act accordingly.”

The vagueness allows the phrase to express an expectation and deliver a veiled warning, while also maintaining the courtesy necessary for further diplomatic engagement, said Zichen Wang, a research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a Chinese think tank.

“What could appear to be confusing is thus an intended effect originating from Chinese traditional wisdom and classic practice of speech,” said Wang, who is currently in a mid-career master's program at Princeton University.

Rubio, during his confirmation hearing, cited the importance of referring to the original Chinese to understand the words of China's leader Xi Jinping.

“Don’t read the English translation that they put out because the English translation is never right,” he said.

A U.S. statement on the phone call didn't mention the phrase. It said Rubio told Wang that the Trump administration would advance U.S. interests in its relationship with China and expressed “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan and in the South China Sea.”

Wang was foreign minister in 2020 when China slapped sanctions on Rubio in July and August, first in response to U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials for a crackdown on the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region and then over what it regarded as outside interference in Hong Kong.

The sanctions include a ban on travel to China, and while the Chinese government has indicated it will engage with Rubio as secretary of state, it has not explicitly said whether it would allow him to visit the country for talks.