The United States and China held ¡°candid¡± talks on maritime issues on Friday, including on the contested South China Sea, and the U.S. side underscored its concerns about ¡°dangerous and unlawful¡± Chinese actions there, the U.S. State Department said.

The 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 State Department said in a statement.

The meeting follows recent high-level diplomacy ahead of an expected meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the mid November APEC summit in San Francisco.