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In a backchannel meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he was working with the Iranian government to curb attacks on Red Sea shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis. urged the Chinese government to leverage its influence.
A senior U.S. official said Sullivan raised the issue with Wang during two days of talks in Bangkok, Thailand.
The official said China has “substantial influence” over Iran and that Beijing had raised the issue with Tehran. But he said the United States is trying to determine whether Beijing has raised it and whether any efforts by Beijing have any effect.
The White House announced that the United States and China will hold counter-drug talks in Beijing next week after Sullivan and Wang met in Bangkok in the latest effort to stabilize relations.
The newspaper said Sullivan and Wang were working together to prepare for the first meeting of a working group established during President Joe Biden’s November summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in San Francisco. He welcomed the progress made in efforts to combat drug trafficking.
The White House said the meeting was “part of an effort to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition” agreed to by Biden and Xi. The official said the U.S. expects Biden and Xi to hold a telephone conversation at some point in the coming months.
The report said both sides welcomed recent efforts to stabilize relations, including China’s resumption of talks between the U.S. and Chinese militaries that had been suspended in 2022 after then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Ta.
The White House also announced that they had “candid, substantive and constructive discussions” on issues including Russia’s war against Ukraine, the Middle East, North Korea and the South China Sea. The two leaders also discussed bilateral dialogue on artificial intelligence, which will begin in the spring.
The Financial Times recently reported that U.S. government officials have pressed China to ask Tehran to rein in the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea for the past two months.
The two leaders also discussed Taiwan following this month’s presidential election of Lai Ching-de. The Chinese government views Lai as a dangerous separatist and fears he could push Taiwan toward independence. The US government has urged China not to take provocative actions as Taiwan prepares for Lai’s inauguration in May.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said Wang told Sullivan that Taiwan’s independence was “the greatest risk to cross-strait peace and stability and the greatest challenge to China-US relations.” Ta. According to the paper, Wang called on the two prefectures to “not be condescending” and treat each other equally.
The Chinese embassy added that Wang “warned against bringing economic and technological issues into political and security issues.”
In another sign of improvement, U.S. officials say there have been no dangerous air intercepts of U.S. reconnaissance planes by Chinese warplanes over the South China Sea in the two months since Biden and Xi held the so-called Woodside summit. He said there was no.
U.S. officials have emphasized in recent months that they do not expect definitive results from high-level engagement. Rather, the new initiative is aimed at easing tensions and ensuring that increased competition between the two powers does not escalate into conflict.
The FT reported last week that Sullivan and Wang met in Thailand, continuing private channels where US officials say the meeting was effective because it took place out of the spotlight. Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wang met quietly in Vienna and Malta last year, paving the way for Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi to meet in November.
The anti-drug talks aim to stop the leakage of raw materials used to make fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has sparked an epidemic in the United States. Mexican drug cartels manufacture drugs from precursor chemicals imported primarily from China and smuggle the drugs into the United States.