Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan over the weekend, officials said on Sunday, in the latest effort to ease tensions between the superpowers.

Wang and Sullivan met in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta on Saturday and Sunday, the White House said.

"This meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the relationship," a statement said.

President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden have not talked or met since a summit in Bali last year but US officials say they are working to renew contact between the two leaders.

A string of high-level US officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, have met recently with Chinese officials to prepare a possible Xi-Biden meeting.

The White House said Sullivan and Wang "committed to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level engagement."

A Chinese government statement on the Malta meeting largely echoed the US version, saying "the two sides conducted candid, substantive and constructive strategic communication." (AFP)