US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will meet with senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Thursday, the latest in a series of contacts as State Department officials gather in Indonesia for ASEAN meetings.
Wang, who represented China at a meeting in Jakarta involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and partner countries, said Beijing Foreign Minister Qin Gang would not attend due to health reasons.
Blinken met with Qin and Wang in Beijing last month, marking the first visit by a US secretary of state to China in five years. It was designed to ease the intense competition between the world's two largest economies.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited China earlier this month and Climate Envoy John Kerry will visit China next week.
Wang, who is in charge of the Chinese Communist Party's foreign policy, ranks above Qin, and as foreign minister, he is in charge of the government's foreign policy.
China's ambassador to the US held a rare Pentagon meeting Wednesday with a senior US defense official in Asia after the Pentagon criticized the US's reluctance to engage in Chinese military communications.
Analysts see the meetings as part of efforts to prepare for a summit between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this year, but tensions remain. Blinken's last meeting with Wang Yi in Beijing proved to be a thorn in his side, as Wang told them that the "primary reason" for their disagreement was the US's "misunderstanding of China" and China's "misguided behavior," according to Chinese sources.
Washington said Beijing was at its lowest point since diplomatic relations were established, but the two sides are known to disagree on trade, security and various geopolitical issues.
Wang's tone on the democratic island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims is his, was particularly striking during a recent meeting with Blinken.
“China has no room for agreement or compromise,” Wang said as he read.
The US is legally obligated to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, but it has long abandoned the policy of a military response to an attack on Taiwan.
Daniel Kreitenbrink Blinken, a senior East Asian foreign affairs official, told ASEAN members in Jakarta last week that he would "encourage China's useless, coercive and irresponsible actions."
