On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a "positive and constructive" phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Beijing expressed its willingness to strengthen communication and cooperation with Washington, UNN reports, citing Reuters and Xinhua.
The publication adds that the talks took place approximately a week before the meeting of the leaders of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) economies in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, where President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump are expected to meet.
According to Wang Yi, the current stability in Chinese-U.S. relations was achieved with difficulty. He called it "a rational choice made by the two major powers on the basis of both their own and shared interests," Xinhua reports.
The U.S. State Department has not yet issued an official statement on the content of the conversation.
In addition
Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have already met twice this year. On Tuesday, Marco Rubio told reporters that work was underway to organize a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit involving Trump, Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rubio said that Trump wants such a meeting to take place, adding: "We believe that this is possible."
On Sunday, Trump said that, in his view, he would meet with Xi Jinping and Putin in Shenzhen to discuss ending the war in Iran and the issue of denuclearization.
In October, Trump expressed his willingness to hold trilateral talks with Xi Jinping and Putin on arms control, including nuclear weapons. At the same time, China appears to be showing less interest in such discussions.
Last month, China's Foreign Ministry said that "the size of the PRC's nuclear arsenal is in no way comparable to that of the United States or Russia," and that the demand for China to join the so-called trilateral nuclear disarmament talks at the current stage was "unfair, unreasonable and unrealistic."
The Wall Street Journal reported that Vladimir Putin had proposed using the trilateral meeting to discuss ending Russia's protracted war against Ukraine.
The meetings between Trump and Xi Jinping that took place this year likely helped stabilize relations, but they did little to narrow the deep differences between the two strategic rivals. In September, Washington and Beijing agreed to extend their trade truce for two months—the term was due to expire in November—but disputes over tariffs, China's purchases of U.S. goods, exports of rare-earth metals and technology restrictions remained unresolved.
On Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the parties would begin a new dialogue on artificial intelligence, but they should not harbor illusions about their existing differences as they seek to control the risks associated with this technology while competing for leadership in the field of artificial intelligence.