"China-U.S. relations are at a critical juncture," Wang said, according to the Chinese government's readout of the meeting between the two diplomats.Bilateral ties have frayed further since Burns assumed his position, most notably because of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in August, a move that prompted Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Xie Feng to summon the U.S. envoy to accuse Washington of orchestrating "a deliberate provocation".Beijing followed up on the incident with several days of unprecedented live-fire military drills that all but encircled Taiwan and, together with Pelosi's visit, appeared to interrupt work towards an in-person summit between Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden.In contrast to Wang's meeting with Burns, the Chinese official ― who is expected to replace Yang Jiechi as Xi's top foreign policy aide ― told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that Beijing would continue to support Moscow in the international arena as a major power.Any attempt to block the advancement of China and Russia would never succeed, Wang told Lavrov during a phone call on Thursday, less than a week after the 20th Communist Party congress unveiled a new top Chinese leadership and gave a groundbreaking third term to Xi."