Top U.S. and Chinese officials wrapped up two days of talks Saturday that focused on improving the superpowers’ relationship, though Washington appeared to have fallen short — at least for now — in getting Beijing to do more to pressure Iran to halt Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met for more than 12 hours over two days in Bangkok, a senior U.S. official told reporters, as the two rivals looked to build on an agreement reached between their leaders during a November summit in California to reopen lines of communication on a number of fronts and work together on common interests.
The U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the two counties had agreed to work toward a phone call in the spring between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“The two sides are committed to continuing this strategic channel of communication and agree to pursue additional channels of communication not just at the Cabinet level, visits in both directions, but also a telephone call between the two leaders at some point in the coming months,” the official said.
But the U.S. fell short in a bid to nudge China to use its economic sway with Iran to persuade Houthi rebels in Yemen to end their attacks against ships in the Red Sea. Iran helps fund the Houthi militia and supplies it with weapons.
Though neither side’s readouts of the meeting went into detail about their discussions on the issue, the senior U.S. officials told reporters that Sullivan had underscored “the importance of Beijing using its substantial leverage with Iran to call for an end ... to these dangerous attacks.”
The official pointed to the “substantial quantities of Iranian oil” that China buys, saying that the U.S. characterizes the economic relationship “as giving Beijing leverage over Iran to some extent.”
Chinese officials told the U.S. side that they had asked their Iranian counterparts to help rein in attacks on ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis, with media reports saying that Beijing had hinted that continued attacks could risk harming business relations with the world’s No. 2 economy.
“This is not the first time we've called on China to play a constructive role,” the official said. “Beijing says they are raising this with the Iranians ... but we're certainly going to wait to see results before we comment further on how effective we think — or whether we think they're actually raising it.”
The U.S. and British militaries have conducted strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, though these have failed to stem attacks by the group on commercial vessels and warships in the Red Sea. The Houthis control a broad swath of Yemen, including coastal areas along the waterway, a crucial trade artery between Asia and Europe that is widely used by Chinese vessels.
The Houthis claim the attacks — which have pushed up the costs of shipping and insurance and forced firms to take alternative routes — are in support of Palestinians in Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.
China says it is “deeply concerned about the recent escalating situation in the Red Sea,” which it calls “an important international trade route for goods and energy.”
Asked about the issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news conference Friday that tensions in the Red Sea are “a spillover of the Gaza conflict,” but did not specifically name any countries as being the cause.
“From day one, China has actively de-escalated the situation, called for an end to the disturbance to civilian ships, and urged relevant parties to avoid fueling the tensions in the Red Sea and jointly protect the safety of international sea lanes in accordance with the law,” he said.
“China stands ready to work with all parties for the de-escalation of the situation and security and stability of the Red Sea.”
But a recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank said that Beijing “may well have calculated that their ships in the Red Sea will not be targeted by Houthi attacks in the same way that pro-Israel Western vessels have been.”
Beyond the Red Sea issue, Sullivan and Wang also announced that the U.S. and China will launch a counternarcotics working group on Tuesday, while the pair discussed the next steps toward holding talks this spring on the risks posed by advanced artificial intelligence.
They also lauded “recent progress” in resuming military-to-military communications, the White House said, with Military Maritime Consultative Agreement meetings, as well as communications between theater commanders and at the minister or secretary level in the coming months.
The U.S. has framed the renewed communications with China as “an important way to manage competition and tensions responsibly” amid fears of their rivalry spiraling into conflict — especially over Taiwan.
Beijing claims Taiwan as a renegade province that must be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. This policy has triggered concerns of a possible invasion by China, despite hints by Biden that Washington — which does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taipei — would help Taiwan militarily in the event of a conflict.
China has voiced anger over Taiwan’s Jan. 13 election of current Vice President Lai Ching-te as the island’s new leader, calling him a "troublemaker" and a dangerous "separatist." Lai had in the past advocated for formal Taiwan independence, but toned down his stance during his campaign, adhering to current President Tsai Ing-wen’s formula that the island has no need to do so since it is already an independent sovereign state.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in its readout of Friday and Saturday’s talks that Wang had “emphasized that the Taiwan question is China's internal affair, and the recent election in the Taiwan region cannot change the basic fact that Taiwan is part of China.”
“The biggest risk to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait comes from ‘Taiwan independence,’ which also poses the biggest challenge to China-U.S. relations,” Wang said.
Sullivan, meanwhile, reiterated what has become a U.S. mantra in recent years, underscoring “the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” according to the White House.
In a signal of the intractable nature of the Taiwan issue, the Defense Ministry in Taipei said Saturday morning that it had detected 33 Chinese military aircraft around the island over a 24-hour period, the most since Lai was elected president two weeks ago.
China has in recent years regularized what it says are patrols and combat exercises around Taiwan, part of a sustained military and diplomatic pressure campaign against the island by Beijing.
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