A top White House official arrived in the country for talks on a relationship that has been severely tested during President Joe Biden’s term in office.
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, was greeted at a Beijing airport yesterday by Yang Tao, the Chinese foreign ministry’s chief for the North American and Oceanian department, and the US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns.
Sullivan has been Biden’s point person for often unannounced talks with the Communist Party’s top foreign policy official to try to manage the growing differences between Washington and Beijing.
The goal of his visit, which lasts through tomorrow, is limited – to try to maintain communication in a relationship that broke down for the better part of a year in 2022-23 and was only nursed back over several months.
No major announcements are expected, though Sullivan’s meetings could lay the groundwork for a possible final summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before Biden steps down in January.
It’s important for the United States and China to avoid any crisis in the remaining months of the Biden administration, as it could set the tone for US-China ties under the next one, said Da Wei, the director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
“The goal of this visit is not reaching new breakthroughs or progress but to continue the stable momentum of China-US relations in the past year through strategic communication, and to avoid new crises in the next few months,” he said.
Sullivan will hold talks with Wang Yi, the director of the Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office, who is also the Chinese foreign minister.
China’s Foreign Ministry said this week that relations with the US remain at “a critical juncture”.
It noted that the two sides are talking on climate and other issues, but it accused the US of continuing to constrain and suppress China. — AP
