The U.S. and China agreed to boost dialog but tensions lingered after Secretary of State Antony Blinken became the highest-level American official to visit to Beijing in five years, as the world’s largest economies seek to put frayed ties on more stable footing.
“My hope and expectation is we’ll have better communications, better engagement going forward,” Blinken told reporters in Beijing in a press conference that capped two days of meetings in Beijing, including with President Xi Jinping. Still, he said the U.S. has “no illusions about the challenges of managing this relationship.”
The Chinese leader earlier had rare praise for Blinken’s visit, saying it was “very good” that their countries made progress on stabilizing the relationship. He also citied “agreements on some specific issues,” but didn’t elaborate in comments shown on state TV.
