China-US talks ahead of Xi Jinping’s planned September visit ‘maintained’: Beijing

China and the US have stayed in communication on leader exchanges this year, Beijing said on Monday, hours after America’s top diplomat downplayed whether Donald Trump’s accusation of Chinese election meddling would derail high-level engagement. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian on Monday said the Chinese and American sides had “maintained communication regarding the arrangements for the heads of state’s interactions later this year”. “Head-of-state diplomacy provides irreplaceable...