Chinese commerce minister to meet US counterpart in Washington next week

China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao will meet both US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Trade Representative Katherine Tai next week, the Chinese Embassy said Thursday, as the United States and China try to recalibrate strained relations.

The announcement follows an earlier meeting in Vienna between top Chinese official Wang Yi and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, which was held in an attempt to reestablish normal communications.

Tensions inflamed between both countries when a Chinese government spy balloon transited the US, prompting Secretary of State Antony Blinken to postpone a planned trip to Beijing – a visit seen as an important step in repairing fraught diplomatic ties that are at their worst in decades.

During a virtual press briefing Thursday, Chinese embassy officials stressed their desire to keep channels of communication open, and emphasized recent bilateral engagements such as the Sullivan-Wang meeting – an indication that efforts by both Washington and Beijing to reset relations may be yielding progress.

The meeting with Raimondo in Washington, DC, had not been previously announced, but the meeting with Tai in Detroit was expected as part of the APEC meetings.

Wang Hongxia from the embassy’s Economic & Commercial Affairs Section said the meetings with Tai and Raimondo “provides an opportunity for the two countries to engage in dialogue through bilateral, regional and multilateral channels to address their respective concerns in the economic and trade areas.”

“China is open to communication at all levels and cooperation across the fields with the United States, but only on the basis of mutual respect,” Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said.

“China welcomes senior US officials to visit China, but the point is that the US will work with China to address the issues in the…