Reuters
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Friday for talks across a range of complex issues, including deepening strains over China's backing of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 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 stabilised, "but negative factors in the relationship are still increasing and building".