China – USA: Meeting Between President Xi Jinping and National Security Adviser Sullivan

Chinese President Xi Jinping received US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Beijing for a conversation that, according to the Chinese press, “could pave the way for a third meeting between China’s leader and the outgoing US president Joe Biden.” Sullivan is the first White House national security adviser to visit Beijing in eight years, and China has prioritized the visit, which together raised the most pressing issues in the relationship between China and the United States, from the political and military support Washington offers Taiwan to the economic and trade restrictions the USA and EU have imposed on Chinese exports.

Welcoming Sullivan to the “Great Hall of the People,” President Xi suggested analyzing “the progress and next steps” in implementing the commitments made by the Chinese leader and US President Joe Biden last year in San Francisco. In addition to the issue of Taiwan, which has been at the center of Sullivan’s meetings with Chinese political, diplomatic, and military leaders over the previous two days, discussions included combating the trafficking of illegal substances such as fentanyl, reciprocal trade policy, communication between the two countries’ military leaders, security of advanced technologies related to the development of artificial intelligence systems, and jointly combating climate change.

China and the United States, the world’s second and first economies respectively, should be the agents of world peace and stability, President Xi emphasized. “China and the United States should take full responsibility to history, to their own people, and to all mankind to become the source of peace and stability on Earth, to become the engine of common development,” said Xi Jinping, according to whom countries need “alliance and coordination” rather than “division and opposition” in today’s turbulent times.

“People of the world want transparency and progress, not closure and regression,” Xi Jinping emphasized.

Both during the Xi – Sullivan meeting and during the previous two days of Sullivan’s meetings in Beijing with Chinese leaders, the Taiwan issue was at the center of very heated discussions. According to a statement released by the White House, Sullivan responded to the Chinese criticism by expressing US concerns about Beijing’s support for the Russian defense industry and its impact on European and transatlantic security, as well as reiterated Washington’s commitment to protecting its allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

Before meeting with President Xi, Sullivan was received by General Zhang Youxia, vice president of the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission and top officer of China’s armed forces. Referring to recent agreements between Taipei and Washington on arms and ammunition sales, General Zhang reiterated that Taiwan is “a red line” that the United States should not cross and expressed hope that the United States would block “arms shipments to Taipei authorities.”

The Taiwan issue was the focus of two days of meetings (August 27-28) between Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. The US National Security Advisor stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and expressed concern over China’s “destabilizing actions” against the Philippines’ “legitimate maritime operations in the South China Sea.” The discussion, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry called “frank, informative, and constructive,” focused on North Korea and its nuclear program, the situation in Myanmar, where civil war is raging, and the two countries’ peace initiatives in the Middle East.

Finally, Sullivan and the Chinese diplomatic chief agreed on a meeting of military generals via videoconference and a second round of talks on artificial intelligence between the USA and China. In the end, on the climate change fight, Wang Yi also “welcomed” a future visit to China by President Biden’s climate policy envoy John Podesta.