Blinken says will meet Wang Yi in Laos next week
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday he would meet his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi next week at an Asean ministerial meeting in Laos. "I speak to him on a fairly regular basis, and I'll be seeing him next week, in fact, in Laos," Blinken said during a security forum in the US state of Colorado, welcoming the dialogue with China. He did not specify whether the two would hold a separate bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers meeting. Despite disagreements in several key areas, relations between the United States and China have stabilised since a summit between US President Joe Biden and his President Xi Jinping in November 2023. "We have reestablished regular, high-level engagements between our countries, which is vitally important, because if you want to avoid any kind of unintended conflict, you have to start talking, you have to start communicating," said Blinken. In his second visit to China in less than a year, Blinken met in April with Xi, who called on the two countries to be "partners, not rivals." On Friday, the top US diplomat spoke of a "steady pace" of meetings, including between the two countries' militaries. "It's important because we're able to communicate very clearly where we disagree. So China at least knows where we're coming from, just like we know where they're coming from," he said. (AFP)