Senior diplomats from the United States and China have met in Washington on nuclear arms control, ahead of an expected summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The US State Department said on Monday that Mallory Stewart, the assistant secretary for its Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance held talks with Sun Xiaobo, the director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Department of Arms Control.

US media are saying this is the first such meeting since the administration of President Barack Obama.

Last month, the US Defense Department issued a report stating that China's nuclear arsenal has been growing faster than previously expected. Washington has been urging Beijing to sit down for discussions on nuclear arms control and reducing the strategic risk.

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters on Monday that efforts will continue to responsibly manage the bilateral relationship and ensure competition does not veer into conflict.

Patel also said John Kerry, the US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, is meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in California.

The meetings are thought to be part of a range of discussions to lay the groundwork for a bilateral summit. The two sides have agreed in principle that a meeting between Biden and Xi will take place on the sidelines of next week's summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in San Francisco.