As the first face-to-face encounter between the two countries and a potential precursor to a presidential summit, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio started a meeting with his Chinese counterpart at a summit in Malaysia.
In Kuala Lumpur, where both officials are attending an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting that concludes Friday, the top U.S. ambassador and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi sat down for the meeting.
Since President Donald Trump's January return to the White House, the meeting is one of the highest-level exchanges between the two nations.
Even if there are still many areas of contention, a constructive dialogue between the senior envoys will raise the likelihood of a leadership conference that might further reduce tensions after their trade truce.
One of the numerous issues that have plagued relations between the two biggest economies in the world is Beijing's diplomatic and economic support for Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine.
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During their most recent phone conversation in January, Wang cautioned the US to handle Taiwan-related issues carefully, while Rubio expressed concern about China's actions toward Taiwan and the South China Sea.
A senior Chinese official last week voiced confidence regarding bilateral ties, and Trump has stated that he would like to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping this year.
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Xi extended an invitation to Trump to travel to China over the phone in early June. In an effort to gauge interest in joining him on a potential trip to China this year, the US administration has begun contacting business leaders.
Wang did not have a bilateral meeting with the Trump administration during his February trip to New York for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Following talks in May, a series of tit-for-tat actions caused US tariffs on Chinese goods to rise to as high as 145% in the ensuing weeks before being halted for 90 days.
In recent years, leaders of the US and China have met through the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, a regional body to which both countries belong. This year, the forum will be held in South Korea from the end of October to the beginning of November.
In recent weeks, there have been indications that both parties are starting to fulfill commitments made during the two months of trade negotiations in Geneva and London. While the US proposed to relax some export limits on ethane, chip-design software, and jet-engine components, China agreed to begin exports of rare earths.
Rubio, a senator from Florida at the time, was twice sanctioned by China in 2020 for his opposition to Beijing's policies in Hong Kong and Xinjiang and his support of legislation that would penalize the Chinese government. Beijing has stated that official exchanges will not be affected by the sanctions.