BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng is set to meet U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer from Friday, as the world's two largest economies try to ease an unexpected flare-up in tension ahead of a key leaders' summit. The commerce ministry said He, China's top economic official, will visit Malaysia from October 24 to 27 for a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations it is hosting. Earlier, the top U.S. trade officials said they would also head to Malaysia to discuss Beijing's curbs on exports of rare earths with Chinese officials. Tension has roiled U.S.-China trade relations since Beijing dramatically expanded curbs on such exports this month in response to a U.S. hike in the number of firms barred from purchasing American technology. Until then, ties had appeared to be thawing following a telephone call on September 19 between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. That had been preceded by a Madrid summit widely viewed as a success for a breakthrough deal on social media app TikTok. But officials of the two nations are now scrambling to salvage a planned summit of their leaders in South Korea, which is just a week away, even while trading blame for the spike in tension. (Reporting by Joe Cash, Xiuhao Chen and Liz Lee; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Clarence Fernandez)
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