(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden plans to meet virtually with Chinese President Xi Jinping before the end of the year, a senior U.S. official said, with tensions escalating between the world’s two largest economies.

Plans for the meeting were announced in a conference call with reporters following about six hours of meetings Wednesday between White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and a senior Chinese foreign policy adviser, Yang Jiechi, in Zurich.

The official called the Zurich discussions more meaningful and substantive than previous meetings between Biden administration officials and their Chinese counterparts. 

According to a Chinese government statement published by Xinhua, Yang said that China attaches importance to Biden’s positive remarks recently and noted that the U.S. said it doesn’t intend to contain China or engage in a new cold war. He called the conversations with Sullivan comprehensive, candid and in-depth exchanges on the two countries’ relations as well as international and regional issues of shared interest.

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