A senior US official says President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to meet again when they held a summit near San Francisco last week.
Biden and Xi agreed to resume high-level dialogue between their countries' militaries when they met face-to-face for the first time in a year on Wednesday.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday that the two leaders agreed "they would meet again, but there was no date put on the calendar."
Kirby also said, "we're looking forward to managing this relationship in a more responsible way and moving things forward, looking for ways where we can cooperate."
But, he added, the United States is "also not being afraid to confront where we can't, including on the tensions in the South China Sea."
Another senior US official expressed confidence after Wednesday's summit that if the leaders want to speak, including by telephone, officials of the two countries will "be able to arrange that."
Washington apparently wants to promote communication between the top leaders of the US and China to stabilize bilateral ties.