Beijing (AFP) – Top US and Chinese officials on Wednesday discussed plans for Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to talk in coming weeks, despite exchanging warnings over regional tensions. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan made a rare trip to Beijing for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi just days after China became embroiled in security rows with American allies Japan and the Philippines.
The White House said the two sides were “planning for a leader-level call in the coming weeks,” along with talks between senior military commanders. It would be Biden and Xi’s second call since an ice-breaking summit in California last year that was aimed at easing tensions between the two superpowers located on opposite sides of the Pacific. They last spoke in April, in a two-hour conversation during which they clashed on trade restrictions on technology and on Taiwan.
Any fresh call would come in the twilight of Biden’s presidency, with US elections due on November 5 and US Vice President Kamala Harris having replaced him as the Democratic candidate. If she beats Republican Donald Trump, Harris would be expected to continue Biden’s approach of seeking dialogue with China while also maintaining pressure.
Washington and Beijing remain at odds on key issues, particularly over China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions. Sullivan, making the first trip by a US national security advisor to China since 2016, “reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to defending its Indo-Pacific allies,” the White House said. He also “expressed concern about (China’s) destabilizing actions against lawful Philippine maritime operations” in the disputed South China Sea, it said.
Chinese state media reported that Wang issued his own warning to Washington. “The United States must not use bilateral treaties as an excuse to undermine China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, nor should it support or condone the Philippines’ actions of infringement,” Wang told Sullivan, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Beijing said on Monday it had taken “control measures” against two Philippine Coast Guard ships that “illegally” entered an area of disputed reefs and waters.
Manila said the Chinese vessels had prevented Philippine ships from resupplying their own coast guard vessels in the area, blasting the move as “aggressive” and calling Beijing the “biggest disrupter” of peace in Southeast Asia. Tokyo, meanwhile, accused Beijing of violating its airspace on Monday, with a two-minute incursion by a surveillance aircraft off the Danjo Islands in the East China Sea. It said the first confirmed incursion by a Chinese military aircraft into its airspace was a “serious violation” of its sovereignty and accused Beijing of becoming “increasingly active.”
Sullivan landed in the Chinese capital on Monday for a three-day trip. Wang and Sullivan have met five times over the past year and a half — in Washington, Vienna, Malta, and Bangkok, as well as alongside Biden and Xi in Woodside, California in November 2023. During their latest encounter, they also discussed the tense issue of Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that China claims.
China has kept up its sabre-rattling since the inauguration this year of President Lai Ching-te, whose party emphasizes Taiwan’s separate identity. Wang stressed that Taiwan belonged to Beijing and that China will “certainly be unified,” adding that the United States should stop arming Taiwan, according to CCTV. The White House said Sullivan “underscored the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
The US and Chinese officials also discussed issues including Ukraine, the Middle East, and the Korean Peninsula, both sides said. Sullivan had “emphasized concerns” about China’s support for Russia’s defense industry during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the White House said. Wang countered that China was committed to “working towards a political solution to the Ukraine crisis” and warned Washington off imposing “illegal unilateral sanctions.”
© 2024 AFP
