However, her visit is widely anticipated to ease fraught relationship between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies.

The visit, seen as a litmus test to see whether the US will show sincerity in fixing bilateral ties, is unlikely to witness big breakthroughs in the trade and commerce field between China and the US, Chinese experts said. However, the US move to pursue dialogue in a trek of recent high-level China-bound visits should be deemed positive in creating a better mood for further talks amid China-US ties that are still at the lowest ebb in decades.

US media outlets have expressed high expectations for Raimondo’s trip.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that Raimondo will likely be the “clearest demonstration yet of the balancing act the Biden administration is trying to pull off in its relations with China.”

Bloomberg reported on Saturday that “Raimondo may have the best chance among the Biden officials who’ve make the trek to China recently of taking the current tension between the world’s two biggest economies down a notch.”

Raimondo’s visit follows several high-level visits by US officials to China over the past three months or so. In June, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China for the first time as the top US diplomat. In July, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited China. Also in July, US Special Climate Envoy John Kerry visited Beijing.

Compared with her peers, Raimondo, as the US commerce chief whose agency is primarily engaged in the field of economic and trade which represents the broadest cooperation and closest integration of China-US interests, is thus pinned with high hopes that her visit will reach some tangible outcomes as it concerns the pragmatic interests between the two countries.

During her China visit, Raimondo will travel to Beijing and Shanghai, and hold meetings with senior Chinese officials and US business leaders. She looks forward to having constructive discussions on issues relating to the China-US commercial relationship, challenges faced by US businesses, and areas for potential cooperation, according to the website of US Department of Commerce.

In her meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng on Tuesday, Xie called on the US side to work in the same direction as China, lengthen the list of cooperation and shorten the negative list, so as to make joint efforts to stabilize China-US relations.

China will express its position to the US side on economic and trade issues of concern, and at the same time, looks forward to having in-depth discussions with the US on resolving economic and trade differences and promoting pragmatic cooperation, a spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said on Thursday, ahead of the upcoming talks.