BLINKEN MEETS CHINESE VP AMID GROWING US-CHINA DIPLOMACY

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Monday with China's vice president on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly as the Biden administration and Beijing step up high-level contacts ahead of what could be a leader-level summit this fall.

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Blinken and Vice President Han Zheng held talks Monday at the Chinese mission to the United Nations. Their discussion came as China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Moscow meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after wrapping up two days of talks with US national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Malta. The quick succession of US-China contacts is fueling speculation that President Joe Biden may meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in November at an Asia-Pacific Economic conference in San Francisco. "I think it's a good thing that we have this opportunity to build on the recent high-level engagements that our countries have had to make sure that we're maintaining open communications and demonstrate that we are responsibly managing the relationship between our two countries," Blinken said in brief remarks at the top of the meeting. Han told Blinken that US-China relations face "difficulties and challenges" that require both countries to show "more sincerity" and make additional efforts to "meet each other half way."