US, Chinese officials to wrap up talks on Taiwan, military communication
BEIJING - U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held wide-ranging talks with one of Chinese President Xi Jinping's top military officials on Thursday, wrapping up three days of talks in Beijing intended to ease tension between the two superpowers.
Sullivan pushed for enhanced working-level military to military communications in the session with General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China's paramount military body, the Central Military Commission.
The meeting was the first between Zhang and a Biden administration official, and the first between a senior U.S. official and a vice chair of the commission since 2018.
"Your request for having this meeting with me demonstrates the value the U.S. government puts on military security and our military-to-military relationship," Zhang said as the two met at the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army.
Sullivan described the meeting as a "rare" event, and stressed that both countries had a responsibility to prevent competition from veering into conflict or confrontation.
"Given the state of the world and the need for us to responsibly manage U.S.-China relations, I think it's a very important meeting," Sullivan replied.
Both referred to progress in military communications and arrangements for theatre-level commanders to speak soon by telephone, which the United States has pushed for amid increased regional deployments.
The White House said Sullivan also stressed the need for stability across the Taiwan Strait and freedom of navigation in the disputed South China Sea, a vital trade waterway.
The United States also raised concerns about China's support for Russia's defence industrial base.
Zhang is believed to be close to Xi and has survived turmoil in China’s military ranks. Western and Asian diplomats say he is more powerful than the defence minister, who more frequently meets foreign officials.
Sullivan held lengthy talks on Wednesday with China's top diplomat Wang Yi, seeking to calm tension ahead of the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 5.
Wang and Sullivan discussed the prospect of fresh talks soon between leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping as well as a broad agenda that featured contrasting views on the Middle East and Ukraine, Chinese territorial claims from Taiwan to the South China Sea and trade.
"The key to the smooth development of China-U.S. interaction lies in treating each other as equals," Wang told Sullivan, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
"The two sides held candid, substantive, and constructive discussions on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues," the White House said.
In the final months of his presidency, Biden has pushed direct diplomacy to influence Xi and keep those tensions at bay; U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate in November's election, would probably pursue a similar strategy.
However, many analysts aligned with former President and current Republican candidate Donald Trump see that approach as too soft in the face of China's increasingly assertive foreign policy.
The United States also wants more domestic action from China to prevent the development of chemicals that can be made into fentanyl, the leading cause of U.S. drug overdoses, and reach an understanding on safety standards for artificial intelligence.
Beijing plans to express its disapproval over U.S. tariffs on a range of manufactured goods and export controls targeting Chinese chip makers, and talk about its claims of sovereignty over democratically ruled Taiwan.
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