Senior officials from China and US are scheduled to meet on Wednesday in the US state of Hawaii to talk over a range of key issues like bilateral trade, Huawei and Hong Kong, sending a signal that their souring relations in recent months might ease to some extent, experts said.
But they cautioned that the problems between the world's two largest economies are unlikely to be resolved all at once.
According to a Reuters report, a Chinese delegation led by senior Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi plans to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The meeting is to take place on Wednesday at Hawaii's Hickam Air Force base.
The two sides will discuss issues including coronavirus response, arms control, Huawei, trade war and Hong Kong.
Zhao Lijian, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, didn't confirm the meeting at a regular briefing, but he stressed that China and the US have maintained communication through diplomatic channels.
Song Guoyou, director of Fudan University's Center for Economic Diplomacy, said that if the talks go ahead, it will show that both governments have the sincerity to sit down at the table, and tackle some urgent issues facing the two powers.
If the talks go smoothly, it would help maintain China-US relations on the track, which have deteriorated in recent weeks and seem to veer from a normal path, he told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The world's two largest economies have been at loggerheads over issues such as the new national security legislation for Hong Kong by China's National People's Congress (NPC), Trump administration's move to ramp up regulating Chinese listed companies at the US stock market, and disagreements on handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
According to Song, the US side has found out that its assaults against China are not generating the desired results. Additionally, the US' domestic racial turmoil and riots do not provide conditions for it to continue its attacks on China.
Gao Lingyun, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, said that despite their divergences, the two countries still realize that they have some common interests, and cooperation will prove to be indispensable in solving bilateral and global problems.
Experts are cautious whether the meeting will generate tangible results or marked progress related to critical issues that have soured China-US relations, such as the new national security legislation for Hong Kong.
"I doubt the meeting can lead to any solutions to those problems. In particular, the US has been tough against China in recent months and it's unlikely that it would suddenly soften on major conflicts with China," Xiao He, an associate research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times. He said it's possible that US-China friction will persist despite the communication.
Song said that it's hard to predict the results of the meeting, but such talks won't bring about "fundamental changes to China-US relations".