Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai made the remarks in a speech published on the ministry's website on Tuesday, as Beijing and Washington lock horns over China's decision to veto a UN resolution on the bloody violence in Syria.

"There is indeed a trust deficit between China and the United States," Cui said in a speech on Monday but only published on the foreign ministry website Tuesday.

"Each time the Sino-US relationship has problems, there are voices that fundamentally doubt the relationship.

"Nurturing and deepening mutual trust remains a major issue that both sides must give full attention to and seriously address."

China's Vice President Xi Jinping will travel to the United States on Monday on a visit seen as part of efforts by the administration of US President Barack Obama to court the leader-in-waiting, about whom little is known in Washington.

His trip comes after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton strongly criticised China's veto of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its violent crackdown on protests, calling the move a "travesty".