China and the United States are set to hold high-level talks here on Monday to reduce the spiralling trade and military tensions between the world’s two largest economies.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to hold talks with top Chinese leaders and officials in a bid to halt the ongoing trade war in which both countries slapped additional tariffs on billions of dollars of their exports.
Announcing Pompeo’s visit, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying last week said that China and the US would exchange views on bilateral ties and regional and international issues of common concern.
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis too was due to visit but it was cancelled which China said was at the behest of Washington. The news of cancellation of his visit came after US allegations that Chinese naval ship conducted unsafe manoeuvres near its destroyer Decatur when it passed through the islands off the disputed South China Sea to assert freedom of navigation. China claims almost all of the South China Sea.
