US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will likely reschedule a visit to China in the coming weeks, after canceling a planned one in February, a US administration official said on Tuesday.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, clarified that no date has yet been set.

The two powers are once again trying to defuse tensions that escalated in February when a high-altitude Chinese balloon flew over US airspace, which Washington called a spy and sent an F-22 fighter jet to shoot it down.

The incident led to the cancellation of an official visit by Mr. Blinken to China.

The spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, said yesterday that in the recent talks with Beijing, on the occasion of visiting US officials, “possible future visits” were discussed, describing the contacts as “very useful”.

“I think you’ll see us talking about future visits there in the near future,” Mr. Kerby said during a briefing of accredited editors at the US presidency.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said Daniel Krittenbrick, undersecretary of state for East Asia, and Sarah Beran, President Joe Biden’s adviser on China and Taiwan affairs, had “frank and productive” talks during the visit. of in China.

Regarding Mr. Blinken, he said that “we look forward to rescheduling the visit as soon as conditions permit.”

“Our view is that there is nothing better than face-to-face meetings and talks, whether in Washington or Beijing, to make progress,” Mr Patel told reporters.

Tensions between the US and China have been escalating in recent years over a range of issues, from trade to security to Taiwan.

The presidents of the two countries, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, agreed to cooperate in some areas in their talks at the G20 summit in November in Bali, but the hot air balloon incident made things significantly worse.