Wang Yi To Meet Blinken In Rome, US Says

Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet his US counterpart, Antony Blinken, in Rome on Sunday, according to the US State Department, in what will be only their second face to face session amid acute tensions between the two powers.

The meeting in Rome, where both diplomats were attending the G20 summit, is listed on Blinken's public schedule for Sunday.

It will be the first between Wang and Blinken since a stormy session in Alaska back in March during which the Chinese delegation berated the American side as TV cameras rolled.

Tensions are high between the world's two biggest economies on a plethora of fronts, including trade, human rights, Taiwan and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week Washington ordered China Telecom Americas to discontinue its services within 60 days – ending nearly two decades of operations in the country and piling further strain on relations between the two countries.

US President Joe Biden has pressed ahead with a hardline trade policy against Beijing broadly in line with that of his predecessor Donald Trump, whose bombastic approach sent tensions soaring. (AFP)