Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang used a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday to urge Washington to stop meddling in Beijing’s “internal affairs,” in the highest-level talks yet after a series of diplomatic engagements between the two rival nations.
Sino-U.S. tensions have surged in recent months over a variety of issues — from punishing controls on semiconductor exports to China to the fate of self-ruled Taiwan — sending the relationship between the world’s two biggest economies into a tailspin.
Washington has said it hopes to manage the relationship through talks, including a planned visit to Beijing by Blinken slated for Sunday, though neither side made mention of that trip on Wednesday. The top U.S. diplomat had been scheduled to visit in February, but that trip was halted after the dramatic shootdown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the United States.
