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CNN
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Senior U.S. and Chinese officials have discussed a possible meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the coming months as the two countries seek to stabilize communications in an increasingly conflictual relationship.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan wrapped up three days of talks in Beijing, where he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, in the first meeting between U.S. officials and Chinese military officials since 2018.
The meeting comes as U.S.-China relations remain tense due to a number of frictions, including Beijing’s aggression in the South China Sea and Taiwan, as well as U.S. trade restrictions targeting China, and efforts by both sides over the past year to repair severed lines of communication.
Beijing is also closely monitoring the upcoming U.S. elections, which could affect the trajectory of relations between the world’s two largest economies if a change in administration occurs in January.
Both sides announced that some sort of phone call or meeting between Biden and Xi may take place in the coming weeks, despite the knowledge that the US president will not be in the White House regardless of who wins next year’s election.
During Sullivan and Wang’s talks, the two sides “welcomed continued efforts to maintain lines of communication, including planning a leadership-level telephone conversation in the coming weeks,” according to a White House release after the talks on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to a statement from China’s Foreign Ministry, the two leaders discussed “new exchanges between the leaders of the two countries.”
There were low expectations that the meeting would bring about significant progress on difficult issues in relations between the two countries, especially with the U.S. presidential election looming.
“Neither side has a strong incentive to actively exert pressure. Because of the elections, both sides are adopting a ‘wait and see’ attitude and aiming to maintain the current relationship without incident,” said Lau Tung-shu, an assistant professor at City University of Hong Kong.
Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to maintain some continuity with Biden’s China policy, but Republican candidate Donald Trump built a combative and volatile relationship with China during his presidency and has warned that he would significantly expand U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports if re-elected.
Wang and Sullivan also discussed plans for a conference call between their respective theater commanders, according to both parties.
The talks are part of a resumption of broader, regular military consultations following Biden and Xi’s November meeting and will involve commanders leading U.S. forces in the Indo-Pacific region as well as those heading Chinese strategy in the southern and eastern theaters.
The Biden administration has for months been pushing for direct talks between the two powers to be expanded beyond senior government officials to include military officials who make decisions in the region, but a US official told CNN that no call has yet been scheduled.
Wang and Sullivan’s discussion of military communications comes amid particularly heightened tensions in the South China Sea, where Chinese and Philippine vessels have been involved in a series of violent but non-fatal clashes in recent months.
Adm. Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, suggested earlier this week that the United States could provide escort for Philippine ships in the South China Sea, an area Beijing claims almost entirely in defiance of landmark international court rulings.
In his talks on Thursday with Zhang, a top official in China’s powerful Central Military Commission, Sullivan stressed “the U.S. commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea” and “the importance of peace and stability on both sides of the Strait,” referring to Taiwan, according to a White House statement.
Sullivan also addressed cyberspace, efforts to bring about a ceasefire in the Gaza war, and U.S. concerns about China’s alleged support for Russia’s defense industrial base as it wages its war against Ukraine.
Speaking in opening remarks ahead of the meeting at China’s military headquarters in Beijing, Sullivan acknowledged that such interactions were “rare”.
“I think this is a very important meeting, given the global situation and the need to responsibly manage U.S.-China relations,” he told Zhang.
According to materials published by Chinese state media, Zhang urged the United States to “revise its strategic understanding of China, return to a rational and pragmatic policy toward China, and sincerely respect China’s core interests,” and called Taiwan “at the core of China’s core interests.”
The general also called on both sides to “maintain stability in the military and security fields.”
The talks follow a two-day meeting between Mr Sullivan and Mr Wang, marking their fifth multi-location meeting in the past year and a half, including their last in Bangkok in January.
The two sides agreed to advance areas of cooperation such as counter-narcotics and AI safety and risks, but predictably made few concessions on major frictions in the relationship.
Wang stressed the importance of U.S.-China coexistence and called on the U.S. to stop sending weapons to Taiwan and support “unification” with what Beijing claims is a self-governing democracy.
China’s top diplomat also called on the United States to “stop suppressing China in the fields of economy, trade, science and technology”, and said U.S. concerns about Chinese manufacturing overcapacity were a “pretext for protectionism”.
Sullivan said the United States will “continue to take necessary steps to prevent American advanced technologies from being used to undermine our national security” and expressed concern about China’s “unfair trade policies.”
The Biden administration announced earlier this year that it would maintain a comprehensive set of import tariffs on Chinese products, with larger increases coming soon on sectors like semiconductors and electric vehicles, and is also restricting Chinese access to U.S. high-tech products with dual-use civilian and military uses.
China responded by restricting exports of certain raw materials important to the production of high-tech products.
The United States has also included Chinese companies in a series of sanctions against Russia’s military, including those announced on Friday. U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Chinese exports of dual-use products to Russia are supporting Russia’s defense industry and enabling Moscow’s war in Ukraine, a charge China denies.
Sullivan’s visit comes ahead of a series of high-profile multilateral summits scheduled for the coming months and could provide a platform for Biden and Xi to meet again at the end of Biden’s term in office.
CNN’s Kayla Touche, Haley Britzke and Shawn Deng contributed to this report.
