China says FM Wang to meet US security advisor Sullivan in Thailand

China's top diplomat Wang Yi will on Friday visit Thailand, where he will meet with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Beijing's foreign ministry said.

"As agreed by China and the United States, Wang Yi will hold a new round of meetings with National Security Advisor Sullivan of the United States in Bangkok," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding Wang would be in Thailand until Monday.

Beijing and Washington have clashed in recent years on flashpoint issues from technology and trade to human rights, as well as tensions over Taiwan and competing claims in the South China Sea. 

In a bid to ease some of the worst tensions in decades, President Joe Biden met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November for talks that both sides described as a qualified success.

Speaking in Beijing this month, Wang said that while the relationship had encountered "serious difficulties", ties had "stabilised" last year.

But Wang's rosy assessment belied continued sources of tension between the powers, with the two powers most recently butting heads over elections on the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.