Beijing: China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday that the two countries' relations were dealing with "new difficulties and challenges," according to Beijing.

In a phone call between the two top diplomats, Qin reportedly said, "Sino-American relations have faced new difficulties and challenges since the beginning of the year."

"China has always viewed and managed China-US relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation put forward by President Xi Jinping," he continued.

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The two diplomats spoke by phone before Blinken is anticipated to travel to China on Sunday.

At their meeting in Bali in November, Presidents Joe Biden and Xi decided to take steps to prevent rising tensions from getting out of hand, including sending Blinken to Beijing.

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After the US asserted that it had discovered and subsequently shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon that was flying over the US mainland, prompting outrage from US lawmakers and denials from Beijing, Blinken abruptly cancelled a trip that had been planned for early February.

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However, the two sides have more recently attempted to defuse tensions once more, including during a lengthy, closed-door meeting between Wang Yi, the top Chinese diplomat, and Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan in Vienna last month.

In recent years, tensions between the two largest economies in the world have risen significantly, particularly over Taiwan, the autonomous democracy that Beijing claims and hasn't ruled out annexing by force.