June 21, 2023: On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended an increases-stakes visit to Beijing with an unexpected meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

After simmering tensions, the latter stressed the significance of steady relations between the two nations.

During the meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house, which lasted 35 minutes, according to the U.S. State Department, Xi said that the world needed a “generally stable” China-U.S. relationship, according to a translated readout from China’s foreign ministry.

Xi added that whether the two countries “can find the right way to get along bears on the future and future of humanity.”

“I hope that, through this visit, Mr. Secretary, you will make more positive contributions to stabilizing China-U.S. relations,” the Chinese leader said in a video carried by Chinese state television outlet CCTV, following “candid and in-depth discussions” between the two officials that led to progress and agreement on some undetailed “specific issues.”

Blinken said both sides agreed on the need for the U.S. and China to stabilize bilateral ties before adding that Washington had “no illusions” about the challenges of managing the relationship. Blinken said the U.S. advocated for “de-risking and diversifying” economic engagement with China, echoing an approach recently adopted by the G7.

Blinken’s trip — which had not initially confirmed a meeting with Xi on the agenda — makes him the highest-level American official to visit China since U.S. President Joe Biden assumed leadership and the first U.S. secretary of State to make the trip in nearly five years.

His original travel plans for February were disrupted by news of an alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over U.S. airspace, in an incident that stoked tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

The visit could pave the way for a November meeting between Biden and Xi after the two world leaders last met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali late last year.