Top U.S. and Chinese diplomats to meet in Munich on Friday

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will hold talks with China's top diplomat Wang Yi in Munich on Friday, the State Department said.

The planned meeting on the sidelines of a security conference in the German city, announced on Thursday by the department, is part of efforts to increase high-level engagements after months of heightened tensions over issues ranging from a suspected Chinese spy balloon and Taiwan to trade restrictions.

Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, and Wang held more than 12 hours of discussions over two days last month in Thailand, with issues on the table including military-to-military communication, the safety of artificial intelligence, Taiwan and attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthis.

It was the first in-person meeting of senior officials of the two countries since Taiwan's presidential election in mid-January, won by Lai Ching-te of the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party.

Following their talks in Bangkok, a senior U.S. administration official said President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping are expected to hold talks over the phone this spring.

Blinken's meeting with Wang on the margins of the Munich Security Conference is also intended to follow up on the summit of the U.S. and Chinese presidents near San Francisco in November.

Biden and Xi agreed at the time to reopen military-to-military lines of communication at several levels and work together on transnational challenges such as counternarcotics to help foster confidence between the geopolitical rivals.

Since then, despite disagreements over various political and economic issues, the United States and China have gradually taken steps to