US Secretary of State Blinken congratulates China on 74th National Day, pledges cooperation on ‘shared challenges’

He added that the US wished the people of China “peace, happiness and prosperity” in the year ahead.

US names veteran diplomat Mark Lambert as top China policy official

Beijing and Washington have conducted a series of senior official exchanges in recent months after a deep freeze earlier this year.

Chinese Vice-president Han Zheng also met Blinken on September 18 in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. During the meeting, Blinken told Han that it was good to maintain high-level engagements between the two countries to make sure the two sides were “maintaining open communications”.

Referring to Blinken’s June visit, Han said the trip meant China and the US were “stepping up engagement and dialogue and working together to stabilise the bilateral relationship”.

Sun Weidong, China’s foreign vice-minister for Asia, met Daniel Kritenbrink, US assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, in Washington on Thursday. The two senior diplomats raised sensitive issues including Taiwan, the South China Sea and Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy.

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‘China will not challenge or replace the US’, Xi tells Blinken at crucial meeting

‘China will not challenge or replace the US’, Xi tells Blinken at crucial meeting

The Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is planning a trip in October to prepare for the Xi-Biden talks, quoting people familiar with the situation.

It also said Beijing and Washington were paving the way for a US visit by Chinese Vice-premier He Lifeng.

The last senior Chinese official to travel to Washington was Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, who visited in late May.