Senior officials of the United States and China have confirmed that their governments will maintain high-level exchanges. The officials also likely discussed a possible summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met in Malta over the weekend.

The White House said in a statement that the meeting was part of ''ongoing efforts'' to maintain open lines of communication and ''responsibly manage'' the relationship.

A senior official of the Biden administration said the talks lasted about 12 hours over 2 days.

The two discussed the bilateral relationship, Russia's war against Ukraine, and global and regional security. Sources said Sullivan conveyed concern and urged Chinese officials not to support Russia.

The US stressed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. A statement by the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang emphasized that the Taiwan issue is the first red line that must not be crossed in China-US relations.

The senior Biden administration official said the US side detected some interest from China to resume dialogue between the two countries' defense officials.

The White House also said the two sides committed to maintaining their strategic channel of communication. It added that they will pursue ''additional high-level engagement and consultations in key areas" in the coming months.

Sullivan and Wang are believed to have discussed a possible Biden-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit to be held in San Francisco in November.