United States Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO has met China’s top diplomat, YANG JIECHI, in Hawaii amid a deep deterioration of ties between the strategic rivals, their first face-to-face meeting since last year.

The world’s two largest economies have been at loggerheads over the handling of the corona virus pandemic and China’s move to impose security legislation on Hong Kong, among the latest flare-ups in tensions that have sharply escalated this year.

China’s foreign ministry said in a statement that YANG told POMPEO that Washington needs to respect Beijing’s positions on key issues, halt its interference on matters such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang, and work to repair relations.

POMPEO stressed “the need for fully-reciprocal dealings between the two nations across commercial, security, and diplomatic interactions.