Promoting healthy, stable & sustainable China-US relations an important task, says foreign minister Wang

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasized the importance of promoting healthy, stable, and sustainable China-US relations in a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday. Blinken also discussed his recent Middle East travel and US diplomatic efforts in the region. The two diplomats exchanged views on the Israeli-Hamas conflict, agreeing to maintain communication on the Middle East situation. Wang underscored the immediate priority of achieving a ceasefire and ending fighting as soon as possible. Blinken also thanked Wang for going to the US embassy in China to express his condolences to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, said the Chinese foreign ministry. Henry Kissinger, the most powerful US diplomat of the Cold War era, who helped Washington open up to China, died last week. “Dr Kissinger has always advocated that China and the United States should respect each other, evolve together, and fulfil their international responsibilities,” Wang was quoted as saying in the phone call. Wang also repeatedly stressed that the United States should fully understand the importance of the Taiwan issue to China and that Kissinger’s diplomatic legacy is worthy of being carried forward and developed by future generations. Wang and Blinken also emphasised the importance of building upon progress made on key issues in the summit between the countries’ respective presidents in California in November, according to statements from their respective departments.