Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) meets with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital Beijing, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. | Photo credit: AP
Chinese President Xi Jinping met US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Beijing on Thursday (August 29, 2024), in a visit aimed at keeping communications open between the two powers. Relations between China and the US are becoming increasingly tense In recent years.
Mr. Sullivan, This is his first visit to China as a key adviser to President Joe Biden He has met senior Chinese officials, including China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a senior general of the Central Military Commission, on US national security issues.
Differences between China and the US have been growing on a variety of issues, starting with a trade war in 2018 and now extending to global security matters, such as China’s claim on the South China Seaand industrial policy on things like automobile and solar panel manufacturing.
Also read: Competition and Conflict: On the US-China Relationship
Both sides said on Thursday (August 29) they were committed to improving relations. Mr Xi and Mr Biden met in San Francisco last November in an effort to improve ties.
“Although the situations in the two countries and China-US relations have changed significantly, China’s goal of remaining committed to the stable, healthy and sustainable development of China-US relations has not changed,” Mr Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
“President Biden is committed to responsibly managing this important relationship to ensure that competition does not turn into conflict or confrontation, and to working together where our interests align,” Sullivan said.
The White House said on Wednesday that Beijing and Washington are also planning a phone call between Mr Xi and Mr Biden in the coming weeks. The White House statement said the two sides would keep the lines of communication open.
There was no indication that the two leaders might meet in person before Mr Biden leaves the Oval Office.
The two sides also plan to hold a military theater commander phone call in the near future, the White House said.
China has rapidly expanded its military capabilities, and there are concerns that Taiwan and the South China Sea are becoming points of conflict.
Mr Wang, China’s top diplomat, told Mr Sullivan that Taiwan’s independence was the biggest threat to stability in the immediate region. He demanded that the US “stop arming the island but support China’s peaceful unification”, according to a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that broke away from authoritarian Communist China in 1949, has rejected Beijing’s demands that it accept unification with the mainland either peacefully or by force. The US is obliged under a domestic law to provide the island with sufficient hardware and technology to deter invasion.
The White House statement said Mr Sullivan “underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
Mr. Sullivan plans to meet with Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, on Thursday morning, according to a senior Biden administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the meeting, which has not been publicly announced.
Mr Zhang has previously spoken about Beijing’s determination to annex Taiwan. At an international naval conference in northeast China earlier this year, Mr Zhang said China would respond with force if its interests were threatened.
He said China’s territorial sovereignty “tolerates no violation and its core interests cannot be challenged. We do not stir up trouble, but we will never succumb to provocation. The Chinese military will firmly safeguard the motherland’s unity and interests”.
Beijing also warned Washington not to support or back the Philippines in violating China’s rights and interests in the South China Sea. China and the Philippines have clashed over the Second Thomas Shoal and more recently the Sabina Shoal.
The US military, rejecting China’s claim to almost the entire South China Sea, said this week it was ready to consult on providing security to Philippine ships in the disputed waters, as hostility between Beijing and Manila escalates over the issue.
The White House said Sullivan reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to defend its Indo-Pacific allies and expressed concern about Beijing’s destabilizing actions against “legitimate Philippine maritime operations” in the South China Sea.
The Philippines has called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to do more. The 10-nation Southeast Asian grouping includes the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which have claims in the South China Sea that conflict with each other as well as China and Taiwan.
The US has shifted its policy with China from engagement to competition. The Biden administration has prioritised preventing competition from getting out of control, while also trying to cooperate with China in areas such as climate change, artificial intelligence and enforcement against illegal drugs.
The White House said John Podesta, the president’s senior adviser for international climate policy, would travel to China, and that Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wang discussed “next steps to reduce the flow of illicit synthetic drugs” and “continued repatriation of illegal migrants.”
In July, the U.S. Border Patrol arrested 1,851 Chinese migrants along the Mexican border, down from a peak of 5,951 in December.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the two sides also agreed to hold a second round of talks on artificial intelligence.
The White House said Mr. Sullivan raised consistent concerns about China’s trade policies and non-market economic practices.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Mr Wang demanded that the US “stop suppressing China in the trade, economic and technology fields”.
Mr. Wang told Mr. Sullivan that by resorting to protectionism the United States would only “harm global green development and impact global economic growth.”