Senior US and Chinese diplomats hold talks to avoid escalation of tensions

Senior diplomats from China and the United States held “candid and productive” talks in Beijing and agreed to keep open lines of communication to avoid tensions from spiralling into conflict, officials said on Tuesday (Jacquelyn Martin/ AP)

Senior diplomats from China and the United States held “candid and productive” talks in Beijing and agreed to keep open lines of communication to avoid tensions from spiralling into conflict, officials said.

On Monday, Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant US secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, was the most senior US official confirmed to have visited China since tensions between Washington and Beijing soared with the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon over the US in early February.