In Manila, where the currents of great-power rivalry run just beneath the surface of diplomatic courtesy, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sat down amid a gathering of nations whose futures hang in the balance between two competing visions of order. The meeting, held on the margins of an ASEAN forum, carried the weight of election interference accusations, contested waters, and the fragile hope of a Trump-Xi summit in September. It is an old human story dressed in modern form: two powers, each convinced of its own legitimacy, searching for a ledge wide e