The US will send a high-level delegation to China next week, following up on President Joe Biden’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month at the G20 meeting in Indonesia. The move is a bid to keep channels of communication open, the US State Department said in a statement, and avoid mishaps as tension between the two giants has intensified. The visit by Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink and National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Laura Rosenberger aims to “continue responsibly managing the competition between our two countries and to explore potential areas of cooperation”, the agency said in a statement. It will also pave the way for a planned trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China early next year. As part of their December 11-14 Asian swing, the two senior officials also plan to visit South Korea and Japan to hold consultations on a “range of regional and bilateral issues,” the State Department said without elaborating. Xi and Biden sought to dial down tensions during their meeting in Indonesia after Beijing launched a severe military response to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August. Pelosi is third in line to the US president. In the following days, the People’s Liberation Army fired missiles into Japan ’s exclusive economic zone, sent 22 jet fighters across the median line between Taiwan and the mainland, and deployed 100 fighters and bombers near the island. China views self-governing Taiwan as a breakaway province to be reunited by force if necessary. Few countries, including the US, recognise the island as an independent state. But Washington is required by law to support Taiwan’s military defence capability. On Tuesday, the Pentagon approved a US$430 million sale of military aircraft parts to Taipei. The announcement Saturday follows comments earlier in the week by White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell that Beijing seeks more stable, predictable relations with Washington for now as it juggles domestic economic challenges. Xi’s zero Covid policy, which has locked down large portions of the population, has taken a sizeable toll on factory output, exports and consumption. China’s economy is expected to grow by 3.2 per cent this year, the International Monetary Fund said last month, well below the official target of “about 5 per cent”. Beijing has recently eased some of its Covid containment policies after a series of protests took place in cities across China but some wonder how long this will last. Xi-Biden talks: US Secretary of State to visit China to keep up communication “Economic pressures from containment measures were mounting, including fears over supply chains and local government fiscal collapse,” said Michael Hirson, head of China research at 22V Research. “This is a period of suspense. The government, population and public health system are entering a new phase of ‘living with Covid,’ but are only just now beginning to feel the stress of surging cases.” China’s “short-term” willingness to engage more with the US also follows more resistance from Asian neighbors antagonised by its assertive diplomacy, Campbell said. “They’ve taken on and challenged many countries simultaneously,” he told an Aspen Security Forum event in Washington on Thursday, citing China’s territorial disputes with Japan and India. “I think they recognise that that has, in many respects, backfired.” Xi and Biden pledged more frequent communication at the G20 at a time of festering differences over human rights, economic sanctions, US export restrictions on high-end semiconductors and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US also announced plans this week to expand its military presence in Australia, a major ally, given shared concerns over China. “China strongly opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs under the pretext of human rights,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday in Beijing. “The US is in no position to impose unwarranted sanctions on other countries or act as a “world policeman””. After meeting with his Australian counterpart Tuesday, Blinken said the two close allies “need to responsibly manage the relationship with China to ensure the competition does not veer into conflict and to find areas of cooperation, such as on climate and global health.”