National security advisor Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Malta this weekend, Beijing and Washington announced Sunday, as the world’s two largest economies try to repair relations.
Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor for the White House, recently had a meeting with Wang Yi, the foreign minister of China. (Source: VOA China News)
Chinese Foreign Minister: To keep the Exchanges and Communication
The White House and Chinese foreign ministry said Sunday that the Sept. 16-17 sessions were candid, substantive, and constructive talks. Sullivan’s meeting with Wang was the latest in a series of high-level talks between U.S. and Chinese officials that could lead to a meeting between Biden and Jinping later this year. Sullivan last saw Wang in May in Vienna.
China’s foreign ministry said both parties agreed to maintain high-level exchanges and confer on Asia-Pacific, maritime, and foreign policy. The White House said both sides “committed to maintain this strategic channel of communication and to pursue additional high-level engagement and consultations in key areas in the coming months.” According to the Chinese foreign ministry, Washington stated Sullivan noted the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and Wang warned that the Taiwan issue is the first insurmountable red line of Sino-U.S. relations.
Biden lamented that Xi skipped a Group of 20 summit in India this month, but he would get to see him. Biden and Xi may meet at the November APEC conference in San Francisco. The U.S. military shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over the US, escalating tensions. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen have traveled to China this year to maintain communication.
Biden and Xi last met in 2022 in Bali as part of the G20 conference.
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