Gina Raimondo said Monday that stable relations between Washington and Beijing are “profoundly important” as she began a meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Wentao.

Aside from Raimondo, three other key Biden administration officials have visited Beijing and Shanghai recently, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Climate Envoy John Kerry.

“The United States and China have one of the most significant economic relationships in the world. Raimondo said in the Chinese capital that we share over $700 billion in trade.

In order to benefit both of our countries, we must maintain a stable economic relationship. In fact, what the world expects of us. There are a lot of complexities involved in this relationship. There is a lot of challenges in this relationship. We will disagree on certain issues, but I believe we can make progress if we are direct, open, and practical.”

Wang said Beijing was also ready to work with Washington, adding that bilateral economic relations were important not just to the two countries, but to the rest of the world.

“I am ready to work with you to foster a more favorable policy environment, enhancing our businesses’ cooperation and bolstering bilateral trade and investment,” he told Raimondo.

In Raimondo’s remarks, he noted their teams had worked together over the summer to establish “new information exchanges and working groups” that would lead to more engagement.

Raimondo added that she would not compromise or negotiate on any matters related to national security. But the vast majority of US-China trade was not related to national security, she said.

Wang agreed, saying he saw most trade between the two economies as “benign.”