State Councilor Yang Jiechi meets Michael Flynn in NY

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Monday that State Councilor Yang Jiechi met with Lieutenant General Michael T. Flynn and other advisers of US president-elect Donald Trump in New York recently, en-route to Latin America for a visit.

Flynn has been designated by Trump as his national security adviser.

"The two sides exchanged views over the China-US relationship and important issues of common concern," Geng told a daily news conference in Beijing.

It is the first public contact between a top Chinese diplomat and Trump's team after his election last month.

Earlier this month, Trump prompted sharp disagreement from China after taking a telephone call from Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen. It was the first time that a US president or president-elect spoke publicly to a Taiwan leader since 1979.