The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday a Chinese State Councilor met a senior adviser of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as part of China's efforts to establish connections with Trump.
State Councilor Yang Jiechi met Michael Flynn, Trump's choice for national security adviser, during a recent stopover in New York on his way to Latin America, Geng Shuang, a spokesperson for Chinese foreign ministry, told a daily briefing on Monday.
The two sides exchanged views on China-U.S. relations and major issues of common interest, said Geng, without mentioning when exactly they met.
Flynn is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General, who until 2014 was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, CNN reported.
This is China's attempt to build connections with Trump's team, and paves the way for the next meeting, Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University told the Global Times on Tuesday, who declined to say whether the next meeting will involve other top officials from both sides.
The meeting is the first time China has publicly confirmed talks between China and Trump's team, according to Reuters.
Wu pointed out that the meeting between Yang and Flynn must have been arranged long before Trump questioned the one-China policy on Sunday, adding that the meeting was unlikely to have been hastily arranged.
Trump said in an interview on Sunday that the U.S. should not be bound by the one-China policy and should use Taiwan as a bargaining chip, Fox News reported.
