First Thing: Antony Blinken meets Xi Jinping in Beijing

Good morning. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is meeting China's president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing. The talks between Blinken, who is on the first visit to China by a US secretary of state in five years, and Xi began at 4.30pm (0830 GMT). Earlier on Monday, Blinken held extensive discussions with China's top diplomat, Wang Yi. Describing the US-China relationship as being at a low point, Wang said the root cause was the US's wrong perception of China. Blinken underscored the importance of open communication channels to manage their competition during more than three hours of talks with…