China’s New Foreign Minister Meets US Envoy for First Time
- Meeting marks first for Qin in his role as foreign minister
- Qin says top priority is to ‘stabilize’ China-US relations
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met US Ambassador Nicholas Burns in the highest-level meeting in weeks between the world’s biggest economies, signaling that Beijing may soon allow more senior-level discussions after rebuffing requests from the Biden administration.
Qin asked the American envoy to serve as a “bridge” between their nations at a meeting on Monday in Beijing, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry. “The top priority is to stabilize Sino-US relations, avoid a downward spiral, and prevent accidents between China and the United States,” he said.