China-US Tianjin meeting comes as both sides adjust to 6 months of Biden

Experts say the countries will ‘show their hands’ and try to improve communication

Last time senior diplomats met face-to-face, in March, they traded sharp rebukes

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US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman attends a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday after the US, Japan and South Korea held trilateral talks to discuss North Korea’s nuclear programme and other regional and global issues. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 6:00am, 23 Jul 2021Updated: 10:29am, 23 Jul 2021

An important US-China meeting this weekend comes at a key moment for the relationship between the two nations as both recalibrate six months into Joe Biden’s presidency, according to Chinese experts.

US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman is due in the city of Tianjin, about 100km (62 miles) from Beijing, on Sunday and Monday. Her visit to China is an additional stop on her previously announced trip to Japan, South Korea and Mongolia.

Sherman will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Xie Feng, foreign vice-minister in charge of US affairs, according to China’s foreign ministry.

President Biden told a town hall event in Ohio on Wednesday that his counterpart, Chinese President Xi Jinping, believes autocracies will triumph over democracies and that democracies need to “stand up”.

Liu Weidong, a US affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the upcoming Tianjin meetings were not just to solve arguments but for the countries to “show their hands”. He also said the aim was to realise “better communication so as to avoid misjudgments from a lack of information. The most important thing is risk management because conflicts cannot be solved”, Liu said.

The talks will be the second face-to-face discussions between senior diplomats from the world’s two largest economies since Biden’s presidency began earlier this year. Last time the US and China met, in Alaska in March, they traded sharp rebukes.

China-US Tianjin meeting comes as both sides adjust to 6 months of Biden

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Experts say the countries will ‘show their hands’ and try to improve communication Last time senior diplomats met face-to-face, in March, they traded sharp rebukes

Experts say the countries will ‘show their hands’ and try to improve communication

Last time senior diplomats met face-to-face, in March, they traded sharp rebukes