Secretary of state Antony J. Blinken met Xi Jinping, China’s leader, on Monday in Beijing, as the two governments sought to pull relations out of a deep freeze that has raised global concerns about the growing risk of a conflict between them.

The 35-minute meeting sent a signal, at least for now, that the US and China do not want their relationship to be defined by open hostility, and that they recognise that their rivalry and their diplomatic efforts carry enormous stakes.

Blinken and Xi held talks at the Great Hall of the People, the grand building on the west side of Tiananmen Square where Xi often receives state leaders. Striking a congenial note at the top of the meeting, Xi praised the two sides for making progress on some issues during Blinken’s visit, saying: “This is very good.”

Blinken told Xi that the American government was committed to responsibly managing its relations with China, according to a state department statement.

“It’s in the interest of the US, in the interests of China, and in the interest of the world,” he said.

Both Xi and President Biden have been under growing pressure from other world leaders to tamp down their nations’ increasingly contentious stances toward each other. Any armed conflict between the US and China, whether over Taiwan, is widely regarded as potentially cataclysmic. The US and China are the world’s two largest economies, are nuclear powers and are the dominant players in advanced technologies and other critical industries.

Officials in Washington and Beijing increasingly speak of the need to halt the rapid decline in relations. But even as they engage in high-level diplomacy aimed at some sort of détente, the two governments also see the need to demonstrate that they are not compromising on core issues.

In his opening remarks at the meeting with Blinken, Xi hinted at China’s grievances, saying: “State-to-state interactions should always be based on mutual respect and sincerity. I hope that through this visit, Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilising China-US relations.”

Over the two days of meetings, diplomats did not voice any hope for sudden or dramatic breakthroughs in repairing the relationship.

Instead, they focused on trying to rebuild channels of communication that had crumbled in recent months and on bolstering negotiations on smaller issues, such as visas and commercial flights between the two countries.

New York Times News Service