US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday amid heightened tensions, with the talks expected to pave the way for a summit between Xi and his American counterpart Joe Biden later this year.
Blinken, who is on a two-day visit to Beijing through Monday, held talks with China's top diplomat Wang Yi earlier in the day after meeting Foreign Minister Qin Gang the day before, and has emphasized the importance of maintaining bilateral communication to "reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation".
As the strategic rivalry between the United States and China heats up over a range of issues, including Taiwan, human rights and trade, other countries have grown concerned about the risk of a strategic miscalculation or an unintended military confrontation between the two powers.
Blinken is the highest-ranking US official to visit China under the Biden administration.
The US president on Saturday expressed his hope of meeting with Xi again sometime over the next several months. The leaders held their first in-person meeting in November on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
During the meeting between the two countries' top diplomats, which lasted for about three hours, Wang told Blinken that China and the United States should "reverse the downward spiral" in bilateral relations and "bring them back on the right track of sound and steady development," according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Wang blamed the United States for the strained relationship, saying Washington has the "wrong perception of China, which leads to wrong policies toward China."
On Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its territory, Wang said Beijing "has no room for compromise," adding that safeguarding national unity will always be at "the core of China's core interests." He urged Washington to "truly adhere to the one-China principle" and oppose "Taiwan independence".
Blinken underscored the importance of responsibly managing strategic competition through open channels of communication to "ensure competition does not veer into conflict," the State Department said.
The secretary reiterated that the United States will continue to raise areas of concern through diplomatic channels. The top diplomats also discussed exploring opportunities to enhance cooperation on shared transnational challenges, it added.
During Sunday's meeting, Blinken and Qin agreed their countries will keep up dialogue and the Chinese foreign minister was invited to Washington to continue discussions.
Qin described the Sino-US relationship as being at its "lowest point since its establishment", and expressed China's commitment to "building a stable, predictable and constructive relationship" with the United States.
The minister also said that issues surrounding Taiwan pose "the most pronounced risk in the China-US relationship," according to the ministry.
Beijing has increased pressure on the island and cut military-to-military communication channels with Washington following a visit by then House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last August. Pelosi became the most senior US official to have set foot on the island in a quarter of a century.
