appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Yuanyue Dang

China and the United States have stayed in contact about exchanges between their leaders this year, Beijing said just hours after America’s top diplomat downplayed the possibility that allegations of Chinese meddling in US elections would derail high-level engagement.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Monday that the Chinese and American sides had “maintained communication regarding the arrangements for the heads of states’ interactions later this year”.
“Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable strategic guidance for US-China relations,” Lin said.
The statement followed US Donald Trump’s prime-time address in Washington on Thursday in which he accused China of interfering in US elections, a move some said might undermine plans for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the US.


After the speech, China’s foreign ministry dismissed Trump’s allegations as “completely groundless”.
Asked on Sunday whether Trump’s remarks would affect Xi’s plans, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: “We anticipate that the trip is happening in September.”
“They’ve continued to send over their teams to prepare for it, and I’ve heard nothing otherwise,” he said of the Chinese side, before flying to the Philippines to attend a meeting of Asean’s foreign ministers.
“I have no reason to believe that they won’t be coming.”
The South China Morning Post previously reported that Ma Zhaoxu, China’s foreign vice-minister, was expected to visit the US this week, likely to lay the groundwork for Xi’s visit. Ma’s trip is expected to include Washington and Miami.
On Monday, when asked about Ma’s visit to the US, Lin of the foreign ministry said: “I have no information to provide at the time.”
This year, the two presidents are expected to meet up to four times. Trump visited Beijing in May, when he announced Xi would visit Washington this autumn.
The leaders might also meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen in November and at the Group of 20 summit in Miami in December.




The Xi-Trump summit in May was intended to stabilise China-US relations but there have been a number of strains since then.
Last week, for example, Washington tightened visa regulations for international students, media personnel and participants in exchange programmes, including greater restrictions on Chinese journalists.
In response, the foreign ministry said it “firmly rejects the US’ discriminatory move targeting certain countries” and that China reserved the right to respond.
And last month, the Pentagon added dozens of Chinese companies – including Alibaba, the owner of the South China Morning Post, as well as BYD and Baidu – to its list of entities it claims to be linked to the People’s Liberation Army.
Beijing retaliated by adding 10 US companies to its export control list, including two rare earth firms.
However, Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi have also held a telephone conversation that Chinese state media described as “positive and constructive”.
Wang and Rubio are expected to meet on the sidelines of this week’s Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila.
“We will release specific details in due course. Please stay tuned,” Lin said on Monday, referring to the meeting.
In addition, there has been some progress in law enforcement cooperation.
On Monday, a Chinese suspect accused of kidnapping and murdering a Chinese citizen and a Chinese-American in the Philippines in June 2024, was repatriated from the US to China, according to a report by state news agency Xinhua.
The suspect was arrested in the United States in October 2024.
The Ministry of Public Security described the repatriation as “the latest achievement by Chinese and US law enforcement agencies in implementing the important consensus reached at the China-US leaders’ meeting”.
In May, Beijing also announced that China and the US had cooperated to crack a transnational drug-trafficking case.


China and US still in contact on Xi summit trip despite Trump’s election claims

Trump’s Chinese interference claims ‘reveal huge crisis facing American democracy’

Many allegations, little evidence: unpacking the China election-interference records

China blasts ‘unfounded smears’ as Trump’s election claims threaten diplomatic thaw

2026 Xi-Trump summits

US President Donald Trump holds talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2017. Photo: AFP

Donald Trump has accused China of meddling with the 2020 presidential election. Photo: EPA

Chinese President Xi Jinping takes US counterpart Donald Trump around the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing on May 15. Photo: Pool via AP

‘Let them fight’: Chinese social media reacts to Trump’s election interference claims

US President Donald Trump has delivered a national address focusing heavily on US election security. Photo: Pool AFP via AP

China rejects Trump’s election meddling claims as ‘fabricated’ and ‘slanderous’

President Donald Trump has been claiming since 2018 that China meddles in US elections. Photo: EPA

Trump’s China election-interference claims spark scapegoat fears among Asian-Americans

US President Donald Trump delivers an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House on July 16. Some US networks, such as ABC and NBC, chose not to broadcast the speech live. Photo: Pool/AFP

US President Donald Trump is pictured after delivering an address to the nation from the East Room of the White House in Washington on July 16. Some US networks, such as ABC and NBC, chose not to broadcast the speech live. Photo: Pool/AFP

Trump reeled off unverified claims of voter fraud and Chinese meddling in US elections in a speech to the nation that doubled down on his false claims to have won the 2020 election. Photo: AFP

News

China

Diplomacy

‘Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable strategic guidance’, foreign ministry says, after Marco Rubio downplays derailment fears


‘Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable strategic guidance’, foreign ministry says, after Marco Rubio downplays derailment fears.


China and US still in contact on Xi summit trip despite Trump’s election claims

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}‘Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable strategic guidance’, foreign ministry says, after Marco Rubio downplays derailment fears

‘Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable strategic guidance’, foreign ministry says, after Marco Rubio downplays derailment fears