U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on Monday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly as the world’s two largest economies hold a series of meetings to stabilize their strained relationship.
The meeting between Blinken and Han was the latest in a series of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials that could lay the groundwork for a meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.
“The world expects us to responsibly manage our relationship,” Blinken said in brief remarks at the beginning of his meeting with Han.
“The United States is committed to doing just that,” he added.
“From the perspective of the United States, face-to-face diplomacy is the best way to deal with areas where we disagree, and also the best way to explore areas of cooperation between us,” Blinken said.
Biden this month expressed disappointment that Xi had skipped a summit of Group of 20 leaders in India, but said he would “get to see him.”
The next likely opportunity for Biden to hold talks with Xi is an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco in November, where U.S. aides for months have hoped to stage such a meeting.
Neither Blinken nor Han in their remarks explicitly mentioned whether such a meeting will materialize.
