Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke of “progress” in talks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Beijing today, the second and final day of a rare visit by a US secretary of state to China aimed at ensuring that disagreements between in the two superpowers will not end up in conflict.

Blinken, the first US secretary of state to meet the Chinese leader since 2018, had earlier walked towards Xi and extended his hand in the Great Hall of the People, which China often uses to welcome heads of state – positive cues in the choreography of diplomacy.

The two delegations then sat facing each other along a large table decorated with pink lotus flowers, with Xi at the top and Blinken to his right.

China

Their roughly 30-minute meeting could pave the way for a summit between Xi and US President Joe Biden later this year.

Biden and Xi last met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November, pledging more frequent communication, though relations have since soured over issues ranging from Taiwan to up to espionage concerns.

What happened at the C-Blinken meeting

“The two sides agreed to follow in the footsteps of the common understanding reached with President Biden in Bali.

The two sides also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues. This is very good,” Xi said at the start of the meeting, according to a video posted online by Chinese state television.

During the otherwise closed-door talks, Xi said China “hopes for a strong and stable China-US relationship” and that he believes the two countries “can overcome various difficulties,” according to a statement reported by the Chinese news agency Xinhua.

He also called on the US not to “harm China’s legitimate rights and interests.”

It is not immediately clear from Xi’s comments, or from Blinken’s earlier announcements about talks he had earlier today with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sunday, exactly what kind of progress has been made.

Earlier, Blinken stressed the importance of open communication channels to manage competition during the more than three-hour talks with Wang, which the State Department described as “productive”.

Saying that US-China relations are at a low point, Wang said the reason is the United States’ wrong perception of China.

“We must take a responsible attitude towards the people, history and the world, and reverse the downward spiral of US-China relations,” Wang said during the meeting with Blinken, according to a statement issued by her foreign ministry. China.

During his seven-and-a-half-hour talks with Chin yesterday, Blinken stressed “the need to reduce the risk of misunderstanding and misjudgment,” the State Department said.

Both sides stressed the importance of making it easier for their citizens to visit, and agreed to work on increasing passenger flights.

They also expressed a desire to stabilize bilateral relations and agreed that Chin would visit Washington to continue dialogue, although no specific date for the visit was announced.