China's Wang: US-China ties still face 'disruptions'

STORY: Blinken is due to spend several hours with Wang across closed-door meetings at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse and a working lunch as the two sides try to maintain progress in ties despite a broad and thorny agenda.

As the pair settled into their opening session, Wang told Blinken that the "great ship" of the China-U.S. relationship had stabilized, "but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building."

"And the relationship is facing all kinds of disruptions. China’s legitimate development rights have been unreasonably suppressed and our core interests are facing challenges," he said.

Blinken replied that "active diplomacy" was needed to move forward with the agenda set by President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping when they met in San Francisco in November.

"There's no substitute in our judgment for face-to-face diplomacy," Blinken said, adding that he wanted to ensure that "we’re as clear as possible about the areas where we have differences, at the very least to avoid misunderstandings, to avoid miscalculations."