WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken didn’t meet China’s international minister on the sidelines of the G20 assembly in India as the 2 sides had already had prolonged talks in Munich final month, the U.S. State Division spokesperson stated on Thursday.

Talking at a daily briefing, Ned Value stated he anticipated there could be “extra calls and engagements” with China within the coming weeks.

“However we had simply taken benefit of 1 alternative a pair weeks in the past,” he stated, when requested why there was no assembly on the gathering of G20 international ministers in New Delhi.

Final month, President Joe Biden stated he anticipated to talk with China’s President Xi Jinping about an incident during which the USA shot down what it stated was a Chinese language spy balloon, worsening already strained relations. No time has been given for the dialog.

Blinken met prime Chinese language diplomat Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Safety Convention on Feb. 19 and warned of penalties ought to China present materials assist to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Blinken stated Washington was involved Beijing was contemplating supplying weapons to Moscow.

U.S. officers imagine China shall be preoccupied in coming weeks after its rubber-stamp parliament, the Nationwide Individuals’s Congress (NPC), begins its annual session on Sunday. The session is predicted to unveil the most important authorities reshuffle in a decade as Beijing confronts a number of points at house and overseas.

Blinken and Russian International Minister Sergei Lavrov met on Thursday on the sidelines of a G20, their first face-to-face assembly since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.