U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday (July 9) there was no substitute for face-to-face diplomacy at the start of a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the resort island of Bali, Reuters reports.
Wang Yi told reporters that the two countries needed to maintain normal relations and get their relationship back on track. The meeting, which follows a G20 summit in Bali, will be the first in-person talks between the diplomats since October.
U.S. officials say Blinken's first face-to-face meeting with Wang, which includes a morning session of talks and a working lunch, is aimed at keeping the difficult U.S. relationship with Beijing stable and preventing it from veering inadvertently into conflict.
Blinken is expected to repeat warnings to China not to support Moscow's war effort in Ukraine and the two sides will address contentious issues that include Taiwan, China's extensive South China Sea claims, Beijing's moves to expand its influence throughout the Pacific, human rights, and trade tariffs.
However, both sides share an interest in keeping the relationship stable and Blinken and U.S. officials say U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to speak again in the coming weeks, something Saturday's meeting is likely to address.
