CHINA and the United States agreed on Saturday to keep open lines of communication between the two nations, to guard against any misunderstanding.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met for roughly an hour and 20 minutes on the sidelines of the annual Association of South East Asian Nations summit in Vientiane, Laos.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that despite regular contacts, “the US has not stopped its containment and suppression of China and has even further intensified it.”