Washington DC: US President Joe Biden’s top aide Jake Sullivan met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, at the end of the former’s three-days visit to China.
The meeting on August 29 was held at the Great Hall of the People and followed talks that Sullivan had with Chinese officials including foreign minister Wang Yi and vice-chair of the central military commission, Zhang Youxia.
Addressing a press conference in Beijing, the US National Security Adviser Sullivan described the Beijing trip as “a true working visit”. The meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain channels of communication and responsibly manage the relationship between the United States and China, the White House said adding that the two sides were planning a call between Biden and Xi “in the coming weeks”.
Chinese state media Xinhua reported that Xi told Sullivan that Beijing’s commitment to the goal of a “stable, healthy and sustainable” China-US relationship remains unchanged as per Chinese news outlet Xinhua.
Xi said both China and the United States should be responsible for history, for the people and for the world, and should be “a source of stability” for world peace and a propeller for common development.
Sullivan addressing a press conference in Beijing after the meeting said, “Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has and will continue to advance its interests and values, look out for its friends. And as we do, we believe that competition with China does not have to lead to conflict or confrontation. The key is responsible management through diplomacy.”
Sullivan had since May 2023 held four meetings with Wang Yi. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, commerce Secretary Raimondo and their counterparts, and many other Cabinet secretaries and their counterparts have held discussions ahead of the Woodside summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November 2023.
Sullivan said that over the course of 14 hours of meetings, he discussed progress and next steps on implementation of the Woodside commitments. These, Sullivan said, included work on counter narcotics and efforts to reduce the flow of illicit synthetic drugs into the United States, military-to-military communications
The US NSA said that a “very positive outcome” of the meetings will be a call between the military commanders of the Indo Pacific Command and the Southern Theatre commander for the Chinese Army.
“Among other issues of global concern, we discussed the recent efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza,” Sullivan said as per a White House readout.
Sullivan said that in all of his meetings he stressed on “the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” He emphasised the United States’ commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to its Indo-Pacific allies including the concerns about “destabilizing actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations in the South China Sea.”
Sullivan said that they did not reach “any specific agreements on the South China Sea” as it is not for the United States to reach agreements with China over the heads of parties like the Philippines. “We did indicate and reiterate our longstanding commitment to our ally and our longstanding commitment to the rule of law, freedom of navigation, and the free exercise of maritime rights in the South China Sea. And we’ll continue to do that,” he said.
Sullivan described the meetings with Chinese officials as “constructive, candid, substantive conversations.”
Responding to a reporter’s question, Sullivan said that in his meetings with Chinese officials, they didn’t discuss” the upcoming US Presidential election. Sullivan said that a meeting between Biden and Xi is likely as both the leaders will be at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and G20 Summits later this year.
“I don’t have any announcements to make on either President Biden’s travel or a potential meeting, but the likelihood is they’ll both be there, and if they are, it would only be natural for them to have the chance to sit down with one another, the US NSA said adding that things pointing in that direction seem logical and reasonable.
Sullivan said that the United States remains deeply concerned about China’s support for Russia’s defence industrial base and its impact on both European and transatlantic security and on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine.
“It is a top priority for this administration to resolve the cases of American citizens who are wrongfully detained or subject to exit bans in China. And this was another opportunity for me to raise those cases, as I have done in my prior engagements,” Sullivan said. Further, he said that it is critical to keep lines of communication open and to that end both US and China are planning “towards a leader-level call in the coming weeks where I expect these discussions to continue.”
In his August 29 meeting with General Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission in Beijing, Sullivan stressed that both countries have a responsibility to prevent competition from veering into conflict or confrontation. The two sides reaffirmed the importance of regular military-to-military communications as part of efforts to maintain high-level diplomacy and open lines of communication, The White House said.
In his August 27-28 meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Sullivan discussed next steps to reduce the flow of illicit synthetic drugs, continue repatriation of undocumented migrants, and law enforcement cooperation. They underscored the importance of concrete steps to tackle the climate crisis and welcomed further discussions during Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy John Podesta’s upcoming travel to China, the White House said.
