UNITED NATIONS 

The UN welcomed on Monday an agreement between the US and China to stabilize tense relations following the US secretary of state's visit to Beijing. 

"Any dialogue between the United States and China on this is crucial to improving coordination on a wide range of major issues," said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq.

Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping for talks on Monday, the highest-level contact between the world's top two economies since Xi met his US counterpart Joe Biden last November in Indonesia.

Xi said that the two sides made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues.

Blinken said profound differences remained and that both sides were open to further talks. He said "military-to-military contacts are hugely important," adding that he "repeatedly" raised the issue with Chinese officials.

Relations between the US and China deteriorated during the Trump administration with a trade war and have since remained tense due to the conflict over Taiwan and an alleged Chinese spy balloon over the US.