The United States and China held talks on maritime issues, including on the contested South China Sea. US underscored its concerns about dangerous and unlawful Chinese actions in the South China Sea. US State Department said that talks took place in Beijing between the department’s China Coordinator Mark Lambert and China’s Director-General for Boundary and Ocean Affairs Hong Liang. The meeting follows recent high-level diplomacy ahead of an expected meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the mid-November APEC summit in San Francisco.