China’s Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu held a telephone conversation with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau on Friday, with both sides agreeing to maintain ongoing communication, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement released Friday.
What Happened: The diplomatic engagement comes as a 90-day U.S.-China trade truce nears its deadline, with former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, calling the lack of direct communication between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping “horrible.”
The leaders have not spoken directly since Trump’s Jan. 17 pre-inauguration call, despite Trump’s expressed