“I would just say on our side at least, we are working together towards that goal and making preparations on our side,” she said.

During the “candid and in-depth” talks between Blinken and Wang, which totaled more than six hours, Blinken underscored the need to resume military-to-military channels, according to another senior Biden administration official on the call.

Such military communications had been largely frozen since then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the self-ruled island Taiwan last August.

China’s dismissal of former Defence Minister Li Shangfu earlier this week might prompt progress on the resumption of military talks, according to the first administration official.

Chinese FM Wang urges ‘in-depth’ Sino-US dialogue ahead of Blinken meeting

“In the past, the US sanction against Li Shangfu had been the ostensible reason for no [military-to-military] ties,” she said. “Now that Li Shangfu is no longer in that position, we are again of course pressing for resumption. I think we’re hopeful that we’ll see some progress.”

Li was sanctioned by the US in 2018 on allegations that he played a role in weapon purchases from Russia.

Blinken and Wang also had “frank exchanges” about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the Biden officials said. Additional regional and global issues discussed included Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s “provocative” actions.

Regarding Taiwan, Blinken reiterated the US position to uphold the US’ one-China policy, and that the US remains “committed to preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” they said.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said in an earlier briefing on Friday that he was “confident” that a meeting between Biden and Xi would happen.

“The president has said that he fully expects to meet again with President Xi,” he said. “These are two guys that have a long-standing relationship, and we’re confident that that’s going to happen.”

According to the White House, Biden told Wang that both the US and China need to manage competition in the relationship “responsibly” and maintain open lines of communication. Kirby said their conversation lasted about an hour.

Biden viewed the meeting as “a positive development and a good opportunity to keep the conversation going”, Kirby said, adding that both sides regularly acknowledge the importance of leader-level communication to manage this most consequential of relationships.

Neither side has confirmed Xi’s attendance at the Apec summit next month. It would be their first face-to-face meeting since they met in Bali roughly a year ago.

The first administration official said in Friday’s briefing that throughout the talks the US pressed China to “take a more constructive approach” regarding the situation in the Middle East, adding “that would include of course their engagements with the Iranians to urge calm...We’ll have to wait and see if there’s anything constructive there.”

The US has repeatedly called on China to use its influence to help prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from spreading.

“We know China has relationships with a number of countries in the region, and we would urge them to use those relationships, the lines of communications they have, to urge calm and stability,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a briefing on Thursday.

Hamas, which rules the densely populated Gaza Strip and which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington, attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,400 people, according to Israel. Since then Israeli counterstrikes have killed at least 6,747 Gaza residents, according to Palestinian officials.

Kirby said that climate change and global health were also discussed with Wang in this week’s talks, and that the US also voiced its concern over recent “unsafe” incidents in the South China Sea.

The US military said on Thursday that a Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet of a US Air Force B-52 bomber over the South China Sea “putting both aircraft in danger of collision.”

Washington also repeated its warning first issued Monday that it would defend the Philippines in case of an armed attack on the basis of a 1951 treaty, after Chinese ships blocked and collided with two Filipino vessels off a contested shoal in the South China Sea.

China’s Communist Party mourns Li Keqiang’s death, praises achievements

During his meeting with Wang on Friday, Biden expressed condolences on the death of former Premier Li Keqiang. Li, who stepped down from his post in March after serving two five-year terms, died at age 68 on Friday after having a heart attack.

Wang’s trip this week caps a series of visits to China by the US secretaries of state, commerce and the Treasury, as well as CIA chief William Burns.

This “stepladder” of confidence-building measures was agreed to a year ago during the last in-person meeting between Xi and Biden in Indonesia.

After a Chinese surveillance balloon flew over the US in late January and early February and nearly derailed the process, the two sides managed to get things back on track, resulting in visits being squeezed into a shorter period of time.

Wang’s meeting with Biden this week is a mirror image of the audience Xi granted Blinken when he visited Beijing in June. While largely symbolic – the real work is being done in meetings between Wang, Biden and Sullivan – it is still important given the stakes leading up to the expected Biden-Xi gathering in San Francisco.

Wang’s visit is also the last, crucial diplomatic capstone before Apec, analysts said, the final sign-off by Xi’s trusted lieutenant, who has extensive experience in US affairs.

“I think the optics have been good for the past few months,” said Sourabh Gupta, senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies in Washington.

“They’ve avoided having Biden say something crazy on Taiwan or the Chinese saying anything too inflammatory as well.”

Even Congress has played a role, he added, by including two Republicans – generally the more vocal anti-China political party – in the delegation to Beijing earlier this month led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, a delegation that Xi also met.

“They’ve choreographed this pretty well,” said Gupta.