The trip, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, will include a bilateral meeting between the two leaders on Thursday.
The visit was originally planned to focus on trade, with the two countries having agreed a temporary truce in their tariff dispute – an arrangement due to last until autumn.
But the agenda has broadened significantly.
Taiwan and the Middle East conflict are now expected to dominate discussions.
Beijing regards Taiwan as its own territory and has strongly opposed a US arms package to the island worth more than USD 11 billion, announced last December.
Washington is legally obliged to support Taiwan's ability to defend itself; China has never ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
The Middle East is also set to feature prominently.
The American-Israeli military operation against Iran has drawn China into the fallout.
Beijing purchases more than 80 percent of Iran's oil exports and is counting the costs of the ongoing conflict.
China has officially denied supplying weapons to Tehran, something Iran sought and the US considers a red line.
The two sides had also been expected to use the Beijing meeting to lay the groundwork for a longer-term economic relationship, following a trade war that has included disputes over China's control of rare earth minerals.
Artificial intelligence is also set to feature in the talks, with US officials telling Reuters they want to open a channel of communication to avoid potential conflicts arising from AI development.
On nuclear arms, China has privately told Washington it has no interest in arms control talks at this stage, according to the agency.
(ał)
Source: IAR, Reuters