US wants high-level engagement with China

Washington April 6 (IANS) The US wants to have high-level engagement with China a senior State Department official has said.

I think we always want to have high-level engagement in the US-China relationship. It s a very important relationship and it s really broad and wide-ranging and so we want to be able to establish that kind of good relationship Susan Thornton acting Assistant Secretary of State said in a briefing on Wednesday.

Speaking on the eve of the first meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida Thornton said Washington will be looking forward to make the meeting very constructive.

This is a chance for the two leaders to get to know one another. We want to have them establish a good working relationship so that they can in times of both opportunity and crisis reach out to one another and have a good rapport she added.

Matt Pottinger senior director for Asia at the National Security Council said the first meeting between Xi and Trump will cover bilateral issues regional issues and a variety of areas of cooperation.

--IANS
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