U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held two days of secret talks in Malta through Sunday, as the two sides look to keep lines of communication open before an anticipated meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this year.
The two held “candid, substantive and constructive” discussions, the White House and Chinese Foreign Ministry said in separate statements detailing the meeting, which was not announced beforehand.
The White House strongly hinted at more meetings soon, saying the two sides “committed to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level engagement and consultations in key areas” between the two countries “in the coming months.”
Biden and Xi are believed to be planning to meet on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in San Francisco in November. The two leaders last met in November in Bali, Indonesia, after a Group of 20 summit.
Both sides are believed to be interested in improving their relationship. Xi is grappling with an economic downturn in his country — as well as possible turmoil within his Cabinet. The Biden team, meanwhile, is likely looking to at least stabilize ties ahead of his re-election bid in 2024.
Bilateral ties have plummeted since the Bali meeting, with Washington shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over U.S. territory and the two sides trading barbs over self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a renegade territory that must be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
In recent months, however, the Biden administration has sent a steady stream of U.S. officials to Beijing for talks with senior Chinese leaders. Both sides on Sunday hinted that the latest meeting was intended to ease tensions.
“This meeting was part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the relationship,” the White House said. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the talks had been aimed at “stabilizing and improving” ties.
Still, in a sign of the challenges ahead, the Chinese side was quick to note that Wang had “emphasized that the Taiwan question is the first red line that must not be crossed in the China-U.S. relationship,” adding that Washington must “honor its commitment to not support ‘Taiwan independence.’”
Tensions have soared over Taiwan, with Biden asserting four times that the U.S. would militarily aid Taipei in the event of a Chinese invasion and Beijing repeatedly holding large-scale military exercises around the democratic island.
Washington has called for “peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” a stance Sullivan reiterated during his meeting with Wang.
A senior U.S. official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said "there have been some small or limited indications" that China is ready to reopen some cross-military communications used to de-escalate tensions between the two countries after those ties were cut following a visit last August to Taiwan by former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The move infuriated China, which held days of military drills — lobbing ballistic missiles into waters near Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture for the first time ever — following the visit. The exercises that Beijing says are practice for controlling the water and airspace around Taiwan have continued at a rapid clip since Pelosi’s trip.
On Monday, Taiwan said that more than 100 Chinese warplanes and nine navy ships had bene detected around the island, which authorities in Taipei described as a "recent high." The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said 40 of the Chinese warplanes — including some of its most advanced fighter jets — had crossed the so-called median line that divides the Taiwan Strait, with some flying to the island's southeast.
Fears of an accidental clash erupting into a full-fledged conflict have grown in the absence of military-to-military ties — and concerns have only grown following the disappearances of China’s foreign and defense ministers.
Then-Foreign Minister Qin Gang was removed in July — with Wang returning to the post to replace him — and has not been seen in public for nearly three months. Defense Minister Li Shangfu, meanwhile, is believed to have been ousted from his position and put under investigation. He was last seen in public on Aug. 29.
The issue did not not come up during the talks, and Sullivan didn’t raise the matter, the senior U.S. official said.
The U.S. and Chinese statements also said the two sides had discussed global and regional security issues, including North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Sullivan’s meeting with Wang — the pair’s first since May, when they met in Vienna — comes as the top Chinese diplomat was set to visit Moscow for talks with senior Russian officials, the Foreign Ministry in Beijing said Monday.
The two days of talks came as Biden and other world leaders gathered in New York for high-level meetings on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly — an event in which Xi will be conspicuously absent.
Xi, who also skipped the recent G20 summit in New Delhi, will be represented by Vice President Han Zheng, a position that is largely ceremonial. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to meet with Han in New York on Monday, according to the State Department.
The Sullivan-Wang meeting follows a series of recent high-level U.S. visits to Beijing, including by Blinken, Treasury chief Janet Yellen, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
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