On Thursday The Financial Times reported, citing informed sources, that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled a meeting with President Xi Jinping during his visit to China. This will be the first time a senior US diplomat holds a meeting with the Chinese president in five years.

According to the report, Blinken's long-awaited trip to China is scheduled to start on Sunday and last for two days.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said on Tuesday that Blinken's meeting with President Xi will be aiming to reinstate some of the bilateral arrangements that China had suspended following Nancy Pelosi's provocative trip to Taiwan last year.

Check out: China is a more preferable trade partner to Taiwan than the US

Back in August Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying had said that "The US side will bear the responsibility and pay the price for undermining China's sovereign security interests."

Following Pelosi's visit, tensions soared between China and Taiwan, reaching their highest in decades on the island after Beijing warned both Washington and Taipei against such a trip.

Since August, China has carried out several large-scale military exercises near Taiwan in response to the visits of high-ranking US officials to the island.

Beijing regards Taiwan as its sovereign territory and promises that it will eventually be reintegrated with the mainland under the "one country, two systems" model. Taiwan has been governed independently since breaking away from mainland China in 1949.

Read more: China: reunification with Taiwan 'unstoppable historical trend'