(Reuters) – The chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, is leading a delegation of former U.S. government officials to Beijing this week, the group said.
The group will meet with senior Chinese government officials and local business leaders, as well as American business executives and foreign diplomats, according to a representative of the chamber, the leading group representing business interests in the United States.
The visit comes as the United States and China gradually resume engagements after the two economic superpowers’ most tense relations in years, at loggerheads over the future of democratically ruled Taiwan, territorial claims in the South China Sea and trade policies.
Ties are still recovering after the United States downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon a year ago.
U.S. and Chinese top military officials spoke for the first time in more than a year in December. Meetings between U.S. Treasury and Chinese financial officials in Beijing in January concluded with both sides agreeing to continue to meet regularly, the Treasury Department said.
U.S. officials also indicated that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen looked forward to a return visit to China at an “appropriate time,” the department said.
(Reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington; additional reporting by Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
