His remarks follow an opinion piece in Philippine media published on his arrival in Manila on Tuesday that took aim at Beijing, in which he said ASEAN countries were confronting "new and coercive threats" in the South China Sea and the U.S. was committed to upholding freedom of navigation.
"That freedom is by no means guaranteed. If those waters fall under the control of a power willing to use commerce as a geopolitical weapon, both the United States and the ASEAN states would face dire new threats to their sovereignty, security, and economic futures," Rubio wrote.
Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea via a line on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Indonesia, and is at the centre of long-running disputes over a multitude of islands and features.
Wang is due to meet on the sidelines on Wednesday with Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro, the chair of the ASEAN-led gathering.
Rows between the Philippines and China have increased in recent years as President Ferdinand Marcos takes a bolder stance on the South China Sea, while pursuing closer defence ties with Washington and expanding security relationships with Australia and Japan.
In talks with ASEAN's Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn on Tuesday, Wang said certain elements of the Philippines' security apparatus had "deliberately engaged in provocations and created maritime incidents", according to Beijing's readout of the meeting.
Wang said that served the interests of "external forces", adding the South China Sea issue should not be an obstacle in its relations with ASEAN and Beijing was willing to work with the bloc to "eliminate interfering factors".
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