China claims it is being 'demonised' by US before high-level talks

Relations between the two countries are unlikely to show much improvement at a meeting in Tianjin

A US embassy car outside a hotel in Tianjin, where US and Chinese officials were expected to held talks. AP

Beijing has urged the US to stop "demonising" China during talks on Monday with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the highest-ranking Biden administration official to visit the country.

Ms Sherman arrived in the city of Tianjin on Sunday, aiming to seek "guardrails" as ties between the world's top two economies continue to deteriorate on a range of issues – from cyber security to human rights.

"The hope may be that by demonising China, the US could somehow ... blame China for its own structural problems," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng told Ms Sherman, in a statement issued by the foreign ministry. "We urge the US to change its highly misguided mindset and dangerous policy."

Mr Xie was quoted as saying that Washington views China as an "imagined enemy". He also described relations as at a "stalemate" and facing "serious difficulties."

He said that the Chinese people view Washington's "adversarial rhetoric as a thinly veiled attempt to contain and suppress China", in comments reminiscent of the fiery exchange in March between the two countries' top diplomats, Antony Blinken and Yang Jiechi, in Alaska.

Ms Sherman will also meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. She tweeted on Sunday that she had spoken with US businesses about "the challenges they are facing in China" and also sent her "heartfelt condolences" to flood victims in Henan province.

The US said last week it was hoping to use the "candid" talks as an opportunity to show Beijing "what responsible and healthy competition looks like", but wanted to avoid the relationship veering into "conflict".

The July 25-26 trip is shorn of the trappings of a fully fledged official visit. Ms Sherman will not go to Beijing but instead spend two days, starting Sunday, in Tianjin, a north-eastern port city.

The visit is widely viewed as a preparatory step for an eventual meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, as relations continue their free fall with little sign of improvement.

A day before Ms Sherman landed in China, Mr Wang vowed to "teach the US a lesson" in treating other countries equally, foreshadowing a rocky start to talks.

"China will not accept any country's self-proclaimed superiority," he was quoted as saying in a foreign ministry statement on Saturday.

John Kerry, the former secretary of state turned US climate envoy, is the only other senior official from the Biden administration to have visited China back in April.

The two sides pledged to co-operate on climate change, despite their numerous differences.

Mr Biden has largely kept the hawkish stance on China of his predecessor, Donald Trump, as Washington has sought to build a united front of democratic allies against Beijing.

Last week, China and the US traded sanctions over Beijing's repression of freedoms in Hong Kong, in the latest round of an continuing tit-for-tat saga that has affected individuals such as former US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.

Washington last week issued an advisory warning to businesses operating in Hong Kong over its deteriorating autonomy.

The US also rallied allies, including Nato, for a rare joint condemnation last week of alleged large-scale cyber attacks coming from China.