CPC Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (second from right) meets with White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (second from left) during a meeting at the Bayi Building in Beijing on August 29, 2024. Photo credit: AP
United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met a top Chinese military official on Thursday (August 29, 2024) as the two countries strengthen communications in an effort to prevent terrorism. Differences over the South China Sea and Taiwan Avoid escalating to conflict.
The meeting came a day after the White House said the two countries would plan a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in the coming weeks.
Mr. Sullivan was wrapping up a three-day visit to China, his first as national security adviser, aimed at stabilising bilateral relations to avoid conflict.
His main talks over the past day and a half were with Foreign Minister and the ruling Communist Party’s top foreign policy official, Wang Yi.
The meeting on Thursday was with General Zhang Youxia, one of two vice presidents of the Central Military Commission, an organisation headed by Xi himself. It was a rare meeting with a US official at a time when both sides are keen to keep relations on an even footing ahead of the US presidential transition in January.
“Your request to meet me reflects how much importance you attach to military security and the relationship between our militaries,” Zhang told Sullivan in opening remarks.
A White House statement following the talks said the two sides “recognized the progress made in sustained, regular military-military communications over the past ten months” and noted the agreement announced Wednesday to hold telephone calls between theater-level commanders in the near future.
China suspended communications between the two militaries and in some other areas after a senior US lawmaker, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in August 2022. Talks only slowly resumed more than a year later after Xi and Biden met outside San Francisco in November.
Danny Russel, vice president of the New York-based Asia Society Policy Institute, said it would be a dramatic level conversation between Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of the Hawaii-based US Indo-Pacific Command, and his Chinese counterpart.
“This theater command-level dialogue is important for crisis prevention, but the Chinese military has been resisting it,” Russell said.
A White House statement after the talks with Wang concluded on Wednesday said the two sides would keep the lines of communication open, including planning “leader-level calls” in the coming weeks. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wang and Sullivan discussed “a new round of dialogue between the heads of state of the two countries to be held in the near future.”
There was no indication whether the two leaders would meet in person before Biden leaves the Oval Office.