Blinken opens second day of talks in Beijing to ease soaring US-China tensions

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a second and final day of critical meetings with senior Chinese officials Monday, as the two sides expressed willingness to talk but showed little inclination to bend on hardened positions that have sent tensions soaring.

Blinken met with China's top diplomat Wang Yi for about three hours, according to a U.S. official, but it is still not confirmed if Blinken will meet President Xi Jinping before he departs in the late evening.

Neither Blinken nor Wang made any comment to reporters as they greeted each other and sat for their discussion.

In the first round of talks on Sunday, Blinken met for nearly six hours with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang after which both countries said they had agreed to continue high-level discussions. However, there was no sign that any of the most fractious issues between them were closer to resolution.

Despite Blinken's presence in China, he and other U.S. officials had played down the prospects for any significant breakthroughs on the most vexing issues facing the planet's two largest economies.

Instead, Blinken and other officials have emphasized the importance of the U.S. and China establishing and maintaining better lines of communication.

The two sides both said Qin had accepted an invitation from Blinken to visit Washington but Beijing made clear that "the China-U.S. relationship is at the lowest point since its establishment." That sentiment is widely shared by U.S. officials.

The State Department said Blinken had stressed "the importance of diplomacy and maintaining open channels of communication across the full range of issues to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation."

The Chinese, meanwhile, restated their...