Top US and Chinese diplomats meet in New York on Friday as rising tensions show signs of easing, but Beijing issued a fresh warning against supporting Taiwan.

Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are set to meet on the sidelines of the annual United Nations summit, their first meeting since in-depth talks in Bali in July, where both sides seemed optimistic about greater stability.

A month later, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan and enraged Beijing, which was staging drills seen as a dry run for an invasion of self-governing democracy.

President Joe Biden said in an interview that aired on Sunday that he stands ready to intervene militarily if China uses force, deviating again from decades-long US ambiguity.

In a sign of smoother relations, Wang said he met with US climate chief John Kerry in New York, despite China’s announcement after Pelosi’s visit that it was limiting cooperation on the issue, a key priority for Biden.

But in a speech ahead of his talks with Blinken, Wang reiterated his anger at US support for Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory.

“The Taiwan issue is emerging as the greatest risk in China-US relations. If mishandled, it will most likely destroy bilateral ties,” he said at the Asia Society think-tank.

“Just as the US will not allow Hawaii to be taken away, China has the right to maintain the country’s unification,” he said.

He condemned the US decision to “allow” Pelosi, who is second in line to the presidency after the vice president, to visit Taiwan. The Biden administration, while privately concerned about her trip, noted that Congress is a separate branch of government.

But Wang was forgiving towards Biden. The New York talks are expected to lay the groundwork for a first meeting between Biden and President Xi Jinping since they became leaders of their two countries, likely in Bali in November on the sidelines of a Group of 20 economic powerhouse summit.

Wang said that both Biden and Xi are committed to “making China-US relations work” and “avoiding conflict and confrontation.”

“However, what has happened is that the US seems to have two different musical scores. The political will of their leaders for a stable bilateral relationship has yet to be translated into logical strategies,” he said.

The US Congress is a stronghold of support for Taiwan, a vibrant democracy and great technological power.

Last week, a Senate committee took a first step to ship billions of dollars worth of arms directly to Taiwan in a bid to deter China, a rise from decades of selling only arms requested by Taipei.

Tensions have also risen over human rights, as the United States accuses the communist state of committing genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghur population.

Biden, like his predecessor Donald Trump, has viewed a rising China as the United States’ key global competitor and has promised to realign US foreign policy to the challenge.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February quickly shifted US focus to Europe, but it also fueled fears that Beijing was realizing years of threats to use force against Taiwan.

However, US officials were also heartened that China has shown some distance from Russia, its nominally close ally.

President Vladimir Putin told Xi at a meeting last week he understood China’s “concerns” about Ukraine, while Wang stressed the need to end the war rather than back Russia at a special Security Council session on Thursday.

In line with the Biden administration’s focus on allies, Blinken met alongside his Japanese and South Korean counterparts on Thursday and is expected to hold a so-called Quad meeting with Australia, India and Japan immediately before his talks with Wang.