"Spoke by phone this morning with incoming People's Republic of China Foreign Minister Qin Gang as he departs Washington for his new role. We discussed U.S.-PRC relationship and maintaining open lines of communication," Blinken tweeted.
On December 30, Chinese state media reported that Beijing appointed Qin, incumbent Chinese Ambassador to the United States, as the new Chinese foreign minister to replace Wang Yi, who served as the head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry since 2013.