The U.S. officials planned to discuss governance and look for signs of Austin Tice, a missing American journalist, as well as other U.S. citizens.

© Nicole Tung for The New York Times

David Perdue would serve in the role at a time when the U.S.-China relationship is considered to be the most consequential in the world.

On Thanksgiving eve, U.S. diplomats reunited family members who had not seen each other in years because of China’s harsh policies on the ethnic group.

The sentencing of Dong Yuyu, a former Harvard Nieman fellow, signals that officials consider some exchanges between Chinese citizens and foreigners to be espionage.

The Americans released, among others, a Chinese intelligence officer who was serving a 20-year sentence in the United States.

President-elect Donald J. Trump is assembling a team of aides bent on confrontation with China. But he also has advisers who do business there, including Elon Musk.

American agencies have assessed that China dislikes the growing partnership between Russia and North Korea. The State Department has raised the troop issue with Chinese diplomats.