Senior diplomats from the United States and China began a meeting on Friday with tensions high after a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and an explicit pledge by U.S. President Joe Biden to defend the Chinese-claimed island, News.az reports citing Reuters.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi shook hands in New York on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, but did not respond to shouted questions from the media as they sat down for talks.