China sends top envoy to US as trade war looms and North Korea risks a bloody nose

Top Chinese and US diplomats will meet later this week as a trade war looms and tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme continue to strain relations between Beijing and Washington.

Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi will be in the United States on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced late on Monday.

China and the US had expressed willingness to maintain and strengthen relations contacts and exchanges, Geng said. And Yang would exchange views on issues related to Sino-US ties as well as international and regional matters of mutual concern.

There are growing trade frictions between the world’s two biggest economies, with China’s Ministry of Commerce launching an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into imports of US sorghum imports on Sunday.

That action followed US President Donald Trump’s decision to slap steep tariffs on imports of solar panels and washing machines and a separate investigation into Chinese aluminium alloy sheet, the first self-initiated US probe in decades.