United States Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is set to visit China on Friday in a bid to improve ties between the two countries following a period of heightened tension.
Secretary Yellen will become the second high-profile US official to make the trip to Beijing after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited last month.
The announcement comes after months of speculation over whether the Treasury Secretary would head to the country, with tensions between the two nations at a high point following several US officials meeting Taiwanese diplomats and the discovery of a Chinese spy balloon flying over parts of America.
Despite this, the White House under President Joe Biden has been keen to push for greater communication between Washington and Beijing to reduce the risk of miscalculation by either side and lower the risk of further escalation.
In his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Secretary Blinken agreed it was important for the two countries to stabilize the relationship and described the trip as an important step even though there had been no significant breakthroughs.
A senior US Treasury official told reporters on Monday that there is no expectation of a breakthrough on Secretary Yellen's trip either, stressing the focus was instead on building long-term relationships with Chinese counterparts.
It is expected the Treasury Secretary will raise US concern, and press for action, over coercive methods and non-market economic practices used by China as well as their recent move to ban purchases of microchips from American firm Micron Technology.
Secretary Yellen is also likely to push Beijing to do more to provide debt relief to developing nations, many of which are struggling as global inflation raises the cost of their repayments.
China is the world's largest creditor and holds enormous influence over the World Bank, the principal source of loans for smaller economies.
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