US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is due to visit Beijing next week amid tensions over trade and China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
China’s foreign ministry announced Pompeo will visit on Monday for consultations on bilateral and international issues. The ministry gave no details, but based on previous visits by American secretaries of state, he would be likely to meet with China’s foreign minister, senior foreign policy advisers and President Xi Jinping.
The visit comes as the U.S. administration is accusing China of trying to undermine President Donald Trump, who accused China during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council of interfering in American elections to help his Democratic rivals.
“They do not want me, or us, to win because I am the first president ever to challenge China on trade,” Trump said, later referencing as evidence an advertising insert in The Des Moines Register paid for by Chinese government-affiliated entities.
