US national security adviser to hold talks with Chinese foreign minister

WASHINGTON DC: U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is heading to China this week for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to a senior administration official.

The discussions are expected to include a potential meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

This would be Sullivan’s first trip to China as the White House national security adviser.

The planned meetings, scheduled from August 27 through August 29, would also be the latest in a series of high-level diplomatic moves aimed at stabilizing U.S.-China relations.

In response to a VOA question, the senior administration official told reporters during Friday’s background briefing, “The purpose of this strategic level of communication” is to clear up “misperceptions and avoiding this competition from veering into conflict.”

The senior official also said the United States will raise concerns about China’s “increased military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan” in next week’s talks.

“These activities are destabilizing and risk escalation, and we’re going to continue to urge Beijing to engage in meaningful dialogue with Taipei.”

Sullivan and Wang have met previously, in Bangkok, Malta and Vienna, to discuss broad and strategic issues facing the two countries.

Key issues in the U.S.-China relationship, including counter-narcotics cooperation, military-to-military communication, AI safety and risk management, are expected to be on the agenda for Sullivan’s talks with Wang.

These discussions follow China’s suspension of talks with the U.S. on nuclear safety and security. China said in July it had halted nascent arms-control talks with Washington.

“The United States remains open to developing and implementing concrete risk reduction measures with the PRC. However, it requires a PRC willing to manage strategic risks,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

“The U.S. would like to deepen discussions on strategic stability, but the Chinese are reluctant. They prefer to discuss an agreement on the no first use of nuclear weapons, but the United States is not prepared to adopt such a doctrine,” former CIA China analyst Dennis Wilder, now a Georgetown University professor, told VOA.

(VOA)