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U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will hold private talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the coming days, and the two sides are expected to resume backchannel communications that have been essential to stabilizing relations. .
Mr. Sullivan is scheduled to meet with Mr. Wang in an undisclosed location in the Southeast Asian country, two people familiar with the plan said, in the first meeting since President Joe Biden met with China’s Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November. There will be a meeting.
The White House declined to comment. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
U.S. and Chinese officials last year resumed high-level talks aimed at easing tensions after disagreements over the status of Taiwan and what appeared to be Chinese spy balloons flying over the United States.
But in contrast to the pre-announced meeting between U.S. and Chinese ministers, Sullivan and Wang held two secret meetings in Vienna and Malta, and Biden and Xi held 11 This was the key to paving the way for talks on the moon.
U.S. officials say the Sullivan-Wang channel was effective because the talks took place behind closed doors and without media attention.
The talks come as Washington urges Beijing to rein in the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have attacked ships in the Red Sea in recent months.
Mr. Sullivan recently raised the issue in Washington with Liu Jianchao, the Communist Party’s international director who some believe will become Mr. Wang’s successor as foreign minister.
Since July, when China fired Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Mr. Wang has served as both China’s top foreign policy official and the less influential foreign minister.
The meeting between Sullivan and Wang came a month after Lai Ching-de won Taiwan’s presidential election. China views Lai, who will take office in May, as a dangerous separatist.
Taiwan remains one of the most contentious issues between nations. The United States has expressed concern about China’s aggressive military activities in various parts of the country. We are also closely watching how China will handle the situation as it prepares for Mr. Lai’s inauguration.
China, which considers Taiwan its own sovereign territory, has accused the United States of interfering in its internal affairs with access to the island, including the sale of defense weapons.
Since the meeting between Biden and Xi, U.S.-China relations have shown signs of stabilization. As an example, Adm. John Aquilino, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, said last month that China had not conducted dangerous interceptions of U.S. aircraft since the summit.
In October, the Pentagon accused China of conducting 180 “dangerous and coercive” intercepts (in which Chinese fighter jets fly dangerously close to U.S. military aircraft) over the past two years. China announced another 100 attacks against aircraft flown by US allies.
China has criticized the United States for flying surveillance planes near its coast, even though the planes are flying in international airspace.
The United States and China are expected to hold further top-level talks this year. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will visit China following her first trip to Beijing in her capacity last year. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also discussing a possible visit, according to people familiar with the situation, but specific details were not immediately available.