China and the United States agreed on Friday to strengthen communication and dialogue at all levels and in various fields, including through the diplomatic channel, as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a bilateral meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

According to a readout from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, the two sides also agreed to leverage the role of diplomatic departments in advancing bilateral relations, and to explore expanding areas of cooperation while managing differences.

Both sides agreed that the meeting was positive, pragmatic and constructive, the ministry readout said.

It was the first in-person meeting between the two top diplomats since Rubio assumed his current post in January. Both were in Kuala Lumpur for a series of meetings on East Asia cooperation.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, elaborated on China's principled position on developing China-US relations and emphasized that both sides should translate the important consensus reached by the two heads of state into concrete policies and actions.

He said it is hoped that the US would view China in an objective, rational and pragmatic way, and engage with China in a manner of peaceful coexistence and mutual benefit, to jointly find a correct way for China and the US to get along in the new era.

According to media reports, Rubio told reporters after the hourlong talks that he thought it was a "very constructive, positive meeting".

"I think we left it feeling as (though) there's some areas we're gonna be able to work together on," he said.

According to Tammy Bruce, the US State Department spokeswoman, Rubio emphasized the importance of keeping channels of communication open.

"They agreed to explore areas of potential cooperation, while seeking to manage differences," she said in a statement.

The meeting came amid a global trade war launched by the US with an array of tariffs that target countries including China.

When meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand on Friday, Wang said Washington's abuse of tariffs undermines the international economic and trade order and hampers global economic growth. He added that the US even imposes high tariffs on small and poor countries.

In May, China and the US agreed to a 90-day pause on additional tariffs imposed on each other following their high-level trade talks in Geneva. The pause is set to expire next month.

When asked whether the US commerce secretary and other senior US trade officials would meet with Chinese negotiators in early August, He Yongqian, a spokeswoman of the Ministry of Commerce, said on Thursday that China and the US have maintained close economic and trade communication at multiple levels.

Su Xiaohui, deputy director of the Department of American Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, noted that both sides stressed the importance of communication.

Su also said the phone conversation between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump in June was critical for China-US talks.

"The latest meeting is a positive move for the two major economies to avoid a lose-lose situation," she said.