The US expects Blinken to host China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, before the end of the year

WASHINGTON, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Washington expects U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to host Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the United States before the end of the year, either at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) next week or later, the State Department said. Monday.

„I’ll let the Chinese government talk about whether or not Wang Yi will attend the UNGA next week. But whether it’s the UNGA or the UNGA, our expectation is that before the end of this year, it will still be the secretary. Secretary of State in the United States Blinken will host Wang Yi,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that China plans to send Vice President Han Zheng to the UNGA, instead of sending Wang Yi on a broader U.S. trip, citing a People brief on the matter.

The annual gathering of world leaders comes after US President Joe Biden expressed disappointment on Sunday that Chinese President Xi Jinping did not attend the G20 leaders’ summit in India, but said he was „going to see him”.

Biden did not elaborate, but the next opportunity for Biden to hold talks with Xi is at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco in November as the two countries seek to stabilize troubled ties.

China’s top security agency has indicated that any meeting between Xi and Biden in San Francisco later this year will depend on the US „showing sufficient sincerity”.

„As the president has said, he hopes to meet with President Xi sometime this fall. We believe there is no substitute for one-on-one dialogue at the leader level, so we will continue to work toward that possibility.” Miller said Monday.

Blinken traveled to Beijing in June, where he met with Wang’s predecessor, Qin Gang, in the first visit by a top US diplomat to China in five years. The US State Department later said they had „open, honest and constructive” talks, and Blinken invited Kinn to Washington to continue the discussions.

Blinken later met Wang on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Jakarta where Qin was absent.

Three senior US officials have visited China since Blinken’s visit, but no Chinese officials have yet visited the US for talks.

Wang, 69, served as foreign minister from 2013-2022.

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