A spokesperson for the US State Department said on Saturday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's top foreign policy official Wang Yi met for talks on the sidelines of the security conference in Munich, Germany.

It was the first face-to-face meeting between the high-ranking officials of the two countries, and it comes amid rising tensions over the US military's downing of a Chinese balloon earlier this month.

Washington has repeatedly stressed it is important to keep communication lines with Beijing open to avoid unintended clashes.