Antony Blinken (left) shakes hands with Wang Yi in Beijing, China, on Monday. AP

The two top diplomats shook hands inside a red-carpeted hall at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing, before talks that State Department officials said lasted for around three hours.

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All eyes will be on whether Blinken will also meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping later in the day, an engagement sources familiar with the matter said was expected but was yet to be confirmed by the State Department or Chinese officials.

He was also expected to meet with US business people in Beijing operating in healthcare, automobile and entertainment industries to hear more on the business climate in China.

Antony Blinken (second left) meets with Wang Yi (second right) in Beijing, China, on Monday. AP

Making the first visit to China by a US secretary of state in five years, Blinken held more than 7-1/2 hours of "candid" and "constructive" talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Sunday.

But, they appeared to make little concrete progress on the wide ranging disputes, which included Taiwan, trade, human rights, stemming the flow of synthetic opioid fentanyl and its precursor chemicals from China, or over their differing viewpoints regarding the war in Ukraine.

Blinken stressed "the need to reduce the risk of misperception and miscalculation" in his talks with Qin.

Both sides emphasised the importance of making it easier for their citizens to visit, and agreed on working to increase passenger flights, which boosted Chinese airline shares.

They also expressed a desire to stabilize bilateral ties despite what one U.S. official called their "profound" differences, and agreed that Qin would visit Washington to continue the conversation, though no date was announced.

Reuters