(BBC News) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held “candid” and “constructive” talks with China’s foreign minister in Beijing at the start of two days of meetings with Chinese officials, the U.S. State Department has said.
Blinken emphasized the need for diplomacy and keeping “open channels of communication,” U.S. officials added.
The trip, the first by a U.S. diplomat to China in almost five years, comes months after an earlier Blinken visit was postponed when a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew in U.S. airspace.
U.S. officials say the main goal of the talks is to stabilize a relationship that has become extremely tense.
China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang told Blinken that Beijing was committed to building a stable, predictable, and constructive relationship with the U.S., state media said. U.S. officials said he had agreed to a visit to Washington at the talks.