A senior US diplomat visited China last week, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday, signaling an attempt to revive dialogue between the United States and China after Anthony Blinken’s trip to Beijing was abruptly canceled in early February.

Rick Waters, who heads the China House, which oversees U.S. policy toward the Asian giant at the State Department, visited Beijing as well as Hong Kong and Shanghai, U.S. foreign policy spokesman Vedant Patel said.

According to him, he met with his “colleagues” and American employees, calling it a “working visit”.

It is the first visit to China by a US official since the secretary of state’s trip in February was canceled and delayed due to an alleged incident involving a Chinese spy bullet that crossed US territory.

Since then, relations between Beijing and Washington have become particularly tense, with China accusing the US and its Western allies of “fencing” the country.

However, Washington and Beijing have not stopped all dialogue, and Blinken met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in mid-February.