United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi discussed improving and maintaining a “mutually beneficial economic relationship” between the US and China, the State Department said on Tuesday.
Tillerson and Yang, China’s top diplomat, also affirmed the importance of “regular high-level engagement” between the two countries during their meeting in Washington, and discussed North Korea’s nuclear program, the State Department said in a statement.
Their meeting was the latest exchange aimed at resetting relations between the world’s two largest economies following the Trump administration’s rocky start.
Yang’s visit to the United States follows a phone call between him and Tillerson last week, during which the two affirmed the importance of a constructive US-China
relationship.
On Monday, Yang met at the White House with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has attacked China on issues from trade to the South China Sea.
Yang, who outranks China’s foreign minister, and Trump discussed shared security interests and a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to a senior U.S. administration official.
The State Department said Yang invited Tillerson to visit Beijing, and that Tillerson expressed interest in doing so.
Yang’s visit to the United States follows a phone call with Tillerson last week, during which the two affirmed the importance of a constructive US-China relationship.
Their talks follow months of strong rhetoric from Trump, who has accused China of unfair trade policies, criticized its island-building in the strategic South China Sea, and accused it of doing too little to constrain its neighbor, North Korea.
In December, Trump incensed Beijing by saying the United States did not have to stick to the “one China” policy, under which Washington acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only one China, of which Taiwan is a part.
He later agreed in a phone call with Xi to honor the policy. Last week, in an interview with Reuters, Trump urged China to do more to rein in North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. China later dismissed Trump’s remarks, saying the crux of the matter was a dispute between Washington and Pyongyang.
Asharq Al-Awsat English
Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities. Launched in London in 1978, Asharq Al-Awsat has established itself as the decisive publication on pan-Arab and international affairs, offering its readers in-depth analysis and exclusive editorials, as well as the most comprehensive coverage of the entire Arab world.
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