The direct meeting with China’s leader is a sign of continued effort to ease tensions, but officials expect little progress on core issues like Taiwan, trade and Chinese support of Russia.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Friday, as the two countries worked to hold together a fractious relationship despite disputes over the economy, national security and geopolitical frictions in East Asia, the Middle East and Ukraine.
Both China and the United States have said they were hoping for progress on a few smaller, pragmatic fronts, including improving communications between their militaries and easing travel between the countries. But they remain at a standstill on fundamental strategic issues, including trade policies and territorial conflicts in the South China Sea and over Taiwan.
And with other disputes looming, both sides acknowledged the danger of the relationship sliding into further conflict.
The Biden administration is deeply concerned that cheap Chinese exports are threatening U.S. jobs, and is worried about China’s support of Russia in the Ukrainian war. And China has accused the United States of working to encircle Chinese interests in the Pacific.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Blinken spent more than five hours with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, in meetings and at a working lunch at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Wang struck a somewhat more conciliatory tone than in the past, telling Mr. Blinken that “the China-U.S. relationship is beginning to stabilize,” and that its future would rely on the decisions of both countries. During Mr. Blinken’s visit last year, Mr. Wang had laid blame for the deterioration of ties with the United States, which he said needed to “reflect upon itself.”
