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President Joe Biden and his Chinese language counterpart Xi Jinping will converse by phone in “the approaching weeks”, the White Home stated on Wednesday, following conferences between prime US and Chinese language officers in Beijing.
The announcement got here after US nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan and Wang Yi, China’s prime overseas coverage official, held two days of talks in Beijing as a part of a “strategic channel” created to stabilise relations and to allow discussions about delicate points corresponding to Taiwan.
Forward of Sullivan’s assembly in Beijing, one US official stated the 2 leaders may meet as soon as extra earlier than Biden leaves workplace — an choice that has develop into possible since he withdrew from this yr’s presidential race. They may meet on the Apec discussion board in Peru or the G20 in Brazil, each in November after the US election.
Sullivan has held 4 conferences with Wang since Might 2023, in Vienna, Malta, Washington and Bangkok. The channel has been stored low-profile to permit each side to have uninterrupted talks on strategic points.
The White Home stated they’d candid and constructive talks in Beijing on bilateral, regional and world points.
It stated the 2 sides have been planning a name between Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, and his counterpart. Xi had agreed throughout a gathering with Biden in November to reopen communication channels between the US and Chinese language militaries, which Beijing shut in 2022 after Nancy Pelosi grew to become the primary US Home Speaker to go to Taiwan in 25 years.
The White Home stated the officers mentioned progress on agreements reached on the Biden-Xi summit — together with a Chinese language promise to crack down on the export of elements for the lethal opioid fentanyl — and in addition talked in regards to the significance of taking “concrete steps to sort out the local weather disaster”.
However Sullivan additionally confused that the US would proceed to take “actions to forestall superior US applied sciences from getting used to undermine our nationwide safety, with out unduly limiting commerce or funding”.
The White Home stated Sullivan confused the significance of “sustaining peace and stability throughout the Taiwan Strait”, raised considerations about China’s assist for Russia’s defence industrial base and its “destabilising actions towards lawful Philippine maritime operations within the South China Sea”.
Some specialists assume Sullivan could meet Xi on Thursday since Wang met Biden when he visited Washington final October forward of the summit.
China’s state media stated Sullivan and Wang mentioned “a brand new spherical of interplay between the 2 heads of state within the close to future”.
Xinhua cited Wang as saying that Beijing wished world peace and known as on the US to not see China by way of a “template of a powerful nation that should dominate”. Sullivan has used their channel to inform China that the 2 international locations will be in a contest but in addition co-operate on the identical time.
Wang warned that Taiwanese independence was “the most important danger to peace and stability within the Taiwan Strait”, in accordance with Xinhua.
He stated China would additionally defend its “sovereignty” over South China Sea islands and that the US shouldn’t assist the Philippines’ “infringing actions” within the space, the place there have been clashes over Manila’s makes an attempt to resupply troops in a stranded ship on Second Thomas Shoal. A world tribunal has rejected Beijing’s claims of sovereignty.
On Thursday Sullivan met Common Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of China’s Central Army Fee, the place the US stated each “recognised the progress in sustained, common military-military communications over the previous 10 months”.
