“The secretary has discussed the need to keep lines of communication open and responsibly manage the relationship between the United States and China,” said US diplomatic spokesman Ned Price. The two superpowers have many points of contention, including over Taiwan, the China Sea and human rights in Xinjiang. There are also trade wars and technological rivalries.
The two ministers also discussed the war in Ukraine and Russia’s “threats to global security and economic stability,” the United States reported.
China, which is officially neutral in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, is sometimes viewed by the West as being too conciliatory with Moscow. The meeting between Chinese and American officials comes a few days after that between Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. “China is ready to deepen exchanges with Russia at all levels,” Wang Sergei Lavrov assured Thursday.