Washington DC - Marco Rubio, Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of state, said Wednesday that a "dangerous" China cheated its way to superpower status as he vowed to ramp up support to deter an invasion of Taiwan.

Rubio laid out his worldview to fellow senators at a confirmation hearing that took place just as Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in their 15-month war, a long-sought goal of President Joe Biden's outgoing administration.

Rubio, who is expected to secure confirmation easily, described China as "the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever faced" and warned of drastic impacts if the US does not act.

"If we stay on the road we're on right now, in less than 10 years virtually everything that matters to us in life will depend on whether China will allow us to have it or not – everything from the blood pressure medicine we take to what movies we get to watch," Rubio said.

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He vowed to ramp up defenses of Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island claimed by Beijing, to prevent a "cataclysmic military intervention."

"We need to wrap our head around the fact that unless something dramatic changes, like an equilibrium [between China and Taiwan,] where they conclude that the costs of intervening in Taiwan are too high, we're going to have to deal with this before the end of this decade," Rubio said.

Rubio rejected a key tenet of Biden's foreign policy – prioritizing a rules-based, US-led "liberal world order" – in favor of Trump's belief in "America First."

"The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us," Rubio said.

"We welcomed the Chinese Communist Party into this global order. And they took advantage of all its benefits. But they ignored all its obligations and responsibilities," he added.

"Instead, they have lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense."