WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi alongside the G20 meeting of foreign ministers in Bali this week, a senior US State Department official said on Tuesday.

The planned meeting comes after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen spoke with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Monday and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s meeting last month with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Luxembourg.

President Joe Biden has said he is still deciding whether to lift US tariffs on Chinese goods, as his administration faces economic headwinds from rising inflation and other strains in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The White House has said there is no deadline for Biden’s decision, but Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are also expected to speak in coming weeks.

US and China likely to trade blows at Asian security meeting

Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 biggest economies (G20) will meet on the Indonesian island of Bali on Thursday and Friday ahead of November’s G20 summit in November, also in Indonesia.

Blinken and Wang last met in October at a Group of 20 summit in Rome. Their meeting this week will focus in part on the war in Ukraine, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the planned talks.