Antony Blinken's talks with his Chinese counterpart were "frank, concrete and constructive"
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held "frank, substantive and constructive" talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing on Sunday, the US State Department reported, according to Reuters.
"The secretary stressed the importance of diplomacy and keeping channels of communication open across the range of issues to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, adding that Blinken invited Minister Qin to Washington for further discussions.
Before the talks, US officials saw little chance of success given the long list of differences between the world's two largest economies, from trade and US efforts to limit China's semiconductor industry to Taiwan's autonomous status and the human rights situation in China.
Antony Blinken "touched on a range of topics of concern to us, as well as opportunities to explore cooperation on common transnational issues with the People's Republic of China where interests overlap," Miller added in a statement.
Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a two-day visit to smooth out differences between the United States and China after months of tensions over the situation in Taiwan, the war in Ukraine and the trade battle between the two powers.
