BBC News

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met with China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing at the start of two days of talks with Chinese officials.

The visit is the first by an American diplomat to China in almost five years.

US officials said the main goal of the talks is to stabilise a relationship that has become extremely tense.

It comes nearly five months after an earlier Blinken visit was postponed, following the flight of a suspected Chinese spy balloon in US airspace.