Top Chinese diplomat to begin visit to Washington

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Pic/AP

China's top diplomat will come to the United States on Thursday for a three-day visit, the latest move by Washington and Beijing to keep high-level talks open amid tense bilateral relations. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan over a range of issues, including the Israel-Hamas conflict, the Ukraine war and a recent vessel collision in the South China Sea, according to senior administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the trip.

Wang's trip to Washington will come just about three weeks ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, where it's possible that President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet. The officials did not confirm the leaders' meeting, nor did they say if Wang's visit would prepare for such a meeting. Instead, Wang's trip was described as reciprocal to Blinken's visit to Beijing in June. Wang plans to make clear China's "position and principles on the relationship with the US and our legitimate concerns," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing on Tuesday.

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China hopes to "jointly push the bilateral relationship back to the track of sound and stable development," Mao said, reflecting a more upbeat tone than the one heard from Beijing in recent weeks.

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