People wave flags during the second day of the nuclear security summit in Washington, DC on April 1, 2016. (Xinhua/ AFP PHOTO)

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Xinhua) -- The United States is pursuing a constructive and results-oriented relationship with China, a senior U.S. State Department official said on Monday.

"We want to be able to pursue a constructive discussion with China that enables us to get at problem areas and make progress on issues," said U.S. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Susan Thornton at a briefing.

The upcoming visit to China by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will focus on "pursuing a results-oriented relationship with China," Thornton added.

"He (Tillerson) will be discussing with Chinese interlocutors all of the various challenges and also areas of cooperation that we are looking to continue to pursue and continue to discuss and make progress on," said Thornton.

According to a previous statement by the State Department, Tillerson will arrive in Beijing on March 18 after visiting Tokyo and Seoul.

"We're going to look for areas that we can expand our cooperation (between the United States and China)," said U.S. State Department acting spokesman Mark Toner on March 7 during the first State Department press briefing since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.