The United States and China are working to ensure the competition between them does not veer into conflict, a top White House official said Tuesday as the two sides started talks on a relationship that has been severely tested during President Joe Biden‘s term in office. Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, is meeting over two days with Wang Yi, a senior foreign policy official for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a scenic lake area on the northern outskirts of Beijing. “President Biden has been very clear in his conversations with President Xi that he is committed to managing this important relationship responsibly,” Sullivan told Wang before the talks got underway.
Quick Read
- A top White House official, Jake Sullivan, stated that the U.S. and China are working to ensure their competition does not escalate into conflict during talks in Beijing.
- Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, is meeting with Wang Yi, a senior Chinese foreign policy official, in a two-day discussion aimed at maintaining communication between the two nations.
- The goal of the visit is to avoid any crises in the remaining months of President Joe Biden’s administration and to continue the stable momentum in U.S.-China relations, according to an expert at Tsinghua University.
- The Biden administration has taken a tough stance on China, viewing it as a strategic competitor, and relations between the two countries have been strained, particularly after the visit of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in 2022.
- The talks could potentially lay the groundwork for a final summit between Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping before Biden’s term ends in January.
- Sullivan and Wang have previously met in Vienna, Malta, and Thailand to work on restoring relations, with this week’s talks marking their first meeting in Beijing.
- China’s Foreign Ministry acknowledged that relations with the U.S. remain at a “critical juncture,” despite ongoing talks on climate and other issues, while accusing the U.S. of continuing to constrain and suppress China.
- Canada recently matched the U.S.’s 100% import tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles following a meeting between Sullivan and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The Associated Press has the story:
A top White House official says US & China are working to avoid conflict at talks in Beijing
Newslooks- BEIJING (AP) —
The United States and China are working to ensure the competition between them does not veer into conflict, a top White House official said Tuesday as the two sides started talks on a relationship that has been severely tested during President Joe Biden‘s term in office. Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security adviser, is meeting over two days with Wang Yi, a senior foreign policy official for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a scenic lake area on the northern outskirts of Beijing. “President Biden has been very clear in his conversations with President Xi that he is committed to managing this important relationship responsibly,” Sullivan told Wang before the talks got underway.
The goal of his visit, which lasts through Thursday, is limited — to try to maintain communication in a relationship that broke down for the better part of a year in 2022-23 and was only nursed back over several months. No major announcements are expected, though Sullivan’s meetings could lay the groundwork for a possible final summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before Biden steps down in January.
Wang, the director of the Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office, noted that the China-U.S. relationship has gone through twists and turns in the past few years. “The key,” he said, “is to keep to the overall direction of mutual respect, peaceful co-existence, and win-win cooperation.”
According to Da Wei, a U.S. and international relations expert at Tsinghua University in Beijing, it’s important for the two countries to avoid any crisis in the remaining months of the Biden administration, as it could set the tone for U.S.-China ties under the next one.
“The goal of this visit is not reaching new breakthroughs or progress but to continue the stable momentum of China-U.S. relations in the past year through strategic communication, and to avoid new crises in the next few months,” he said.
The Biden administration has taken a tough line on China, viewing it as a strategic competitor, restricting the access of its companies to advanced technology and confronting the rising power as it seeks to exert influence over Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Already frosty relations went into a deep freeze after then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a senior U.S. lawmaker, visited Taiwan in August 2022. Hopes of restoring ties were dashed the following February when a suspected Chinese spy balloon drifted across the U.S. before being shot down by the U.S. military.
Sullivan has been Biden’s point person for often unannounced talks with Wang, who is the foreign minister as well as the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy official. Wang had initially stepped down as foreign minister when he took the party post, a more senior position, but he returned about seven months later, in July 2023, after his successor was removed for reasons that have not been made public.
At a meeting between Sullivan and Wang in Vienna in May 2023, the two countries launched a delicate process of putting relations back on track. Since than, they have met two more times in a third country, Malta and Thailand. This week will mark their first talks in Beijing.
China’s Foreign Ministry said this week that relations with the U.S. remain at “a critical juncture.” It noted that the two sides are talking on climate and other issues, but it accused the U.S. of continuing to constrain and suppress China.
Canada announced on Monday that it will match America’s 100% import tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles, after being encouraged to do so by Sullivan during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Cabinet ministers the previous day.
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